Good News Report

The Vice President for Student Affairs prepare a quarterly report of good news from the division for the Board of Trustees several times a year. Recent Good News Reports (past two years) are available on this page.

2017 - Fall Highlights (through November 20)

Community Engagement and Service

Miami University received a Champion Award for its Freedom Summer App at the first-ever ALL IN Challenge Awards Ceremony recognizing colleges and universities committed to increasing college student voting rates and civic participation. The program was designated as “most innovative” in the nation by the members of the ALL IN Challenge Advisory Board. The Office of Community Engagement and Service prepared the ALL IN Challenge application and report, resulting in the "most innovative" program award.

Miami University also earned a Bronze Seal from the ALL IN Challenge for achieving a student voting rate between 50 and 59 percent. Miami’s data reveals a voting rate of 55.9% in 2016, higher than the national average.

Diversity Affairs

The Women’s Center and LGBTQ Services moved into a new shared space on the third floor of the Armstrong Student Center.

making them more likely to seek out opportunities to get involved on campus

Created monthly follow-up programming for MADE@Miami participants and current students to come together and build community

ODA formed a connection with our Latinx population of students; we traveled to the Ohio Latino Summit at UC and hosted a reception for them to meet other students, staff and faculty

The Women’s Center was the primary sponsor for several fall semester events:

Women's Equality Day with a voter registration table, co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Oxford

Welcome reception for new female faculty and staff, co-sponsored by the Provost's Office and Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies

A dinner for American and Muslim Women's Collective, co-sponsored by the Office of International Students and Scholar Services

The 19th year of the Clothesline Project art exhibit in October viewed by hundreds of students

National Coming Out day was held under the Upham Arch with record participation and visibility across campus

ODA is reassembling the LGBTQ+ Advisory Board Group with Dr. Madelyn Detloff as co-chair

2 new LGBTQ+ Student Organizations have been created (1 undergraduate and 1 graduate)

Stakeholder in first gender-inclusive living learning community

Harry T. Wilks Leadership Institute

Hosted the annual Strengths-based Perlmutter Leadership Conference on October 22. The number of Miami students in attendance this year has remained consistent with 139 students in attendance. Adjusting the level of engagement in the content, students actively participated in multiple Strengths-based sessions, activities, and discussions led by Gallup-trained facilitators from Miami University and the University of Cincinnati in addition to student staff from Wilks. Students mentioned the following as important lessons learned as a result of attendance:

How to connect their strengths to daily life

Turning challenges of Strengths into positive contributions

Confidence in effectively talking about their strengths to others in a variety of settings

Myaamia Tribe Relations

21 students are enrolled in EDL 115, How the Myaamia Live Today

Collaboration with UCM--The big news of this semester is the launch of the awareness campaign about Miami’s long-standing relationship with the Miami Tribe.

The revised Miami Tribe Relations website was launched early this semester and included the newly released video about Myaamia students at Miami.

A joint letter from Chief Lankford and President Crawford was sent on October 19 to all students/faculty/staff and through alumni networks announcing the new Myaamia Heritage Logo and spreading wider awareness of the relationship with the Miami Tribe.

On October 21, 2017 Chief Lankford and President Crawford signed a Memorandum of Agreement at Lewis Place concerning the joint ownership and the use of the Myaamia Heritage Logo. A reception followed with the UCM and Myaamia Center staffs and Myaamia students attending.

At the football game on October 21, Chief Lankford and President Crawford went to center field, along with the 3 Myaamia men cheerleaders, for the coin toss to start the game. A commemorative coin was produced for the toss and special copies were presented to both the Chief and the President.

At the second time-out of the game, a brief slide show and announcement led into a 30 second version of the new video highlighting the new logo and strong relationship. While this was occurring, an infographics handout about the relationship was distributed in the stands.

December 8 will be the launch of new merchandise in all three bookstores in Oxford using the Myaamia Heritage Logo.

Off-Campus Outreach & Communication

The Off-Campus Outreach & Communication Office worked with Associated Student Government to provide an off-campus housing fair for second and third year students who are searching for off-campus housing. The fair showcased nearly 20 local property managers and the H.O.M.E. office to nearly 200 students.

The office gave two presentations in residence halls and one to international students, about the off-campus housing search to educate students about their options and their responsibilities as future tenants.

We continue to see increased use of the Commuter Center, and interest in the Commuters of Miami student organization, likely due to the first annual “Commuter Preview Day” held in August. The Center has now rented ALL of the 70 lockers in the Center. We’ve also more than doubled the participation in commuter events this year and implemented a Commuter Mentoring Program, providing more and more opportunities for this often-overlooked population to build community and establish relationships.

Orientation and Transition Programs

Summer Orientation retention numbers are in! Only 18 students of the 3,458 who attended summer orientation did not return for the first day of school, which is a 99.5% retention rate, the highest since we began tracking this number in 2012. Our three-year average is 99.3%.

Welcome Weekend and First 50 Days Programs concluded on October 15. The newly expanded program series included over 400 programs to support new student transitions - more than triple prior years - and involved collaboration from more than 70 campus partners from across the university and local community. Student focus group participants commented that Welcome Weekend and First 50 events helped them connect with other new students; students also commented that attending these programs helped to increase their belonging and decrease loneliness and homesickness at the start of the year.

We’ve expanded the transfer one-day orientation schedule. As transfer one-day orientation attendance continues to grow and all academic divisions are participating, we have expanded the schedule to include student leaders (SOULs), a SOUL panel for parents and families, and a Q&A session with select campus partners. The program has expanded by 90 minutes, but still fits easily within one business day.

Orientation and Transition Programs held our third annual SOUL Homecoming Reunion Brunch on Saturday, September 16th. Approximately 25 former SOULs attended the event, connected with one another, and enjoyed a meal and slideshow of SOUL memories. The program was the latest in a series of SOUL alumni communications and events which began in spring 2015. These efforts are helping to connect former SOULs for networking and career support, and have resulted in increased alumni giving to the office since the start of the school year.

Recruitment for Student Orientation Undergraduate Leaders (SOULs) is underway. Applications opened in late October. A priority application deadline is in early December, and a final deadline is set for early January.

Parent and Family Programs

Family Weekend 2017 brought thousands of Miami families to campus, where they enjoyed time with their students, attended academic lectures, arts and athletic events, and explored Oxford and surrounding areas. Family Weekend survey respondents reported that Family Weekend increased their understanding about their student's Miami experience (92%), increased their awareness of Oxford as a welcoming community to Miami students and families (92%), and that they had at least one conversation with their student about the student's goals for their time at Miami and how they are working toward those goals (91%).

Parents Council - Successfully recruited 10 families to represent Families of the Class of 2021 to the University. Through collaboration with offices across campus, the Council remains focused on assisting career development efforts through expanding the network of employers that recruit at Miami, reducing high-risk alcohol use through the support of initiatives such as Uptown Safety Stations, and eliminating hazing in Greek-letter organizations through targeted engagement of parents in conversations about hazing with their students.

Collaborated with 9 different units to offer seven Parent & Family Webinars, designed to provide families with timely and topic-specific information, such as supporting a student who is sick, post-midterm academic assistance, and second-year housing options. Between live attendance and later viewing of session recordings, an average of 120 family members saw each session.

Residence Life

In September students from two different living learning communities, RedHawk Traditions and Code Red, took 11 buses (approximately 500 students) to Notre Dame for the football game on 9/30.

McBrideHall hosted a pumpkin design challenge event in partnership with our LLC stakeholder Dr. Michael Bailey Van Kuren from Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering. More than 50 students attended and had a great time at the event.

The Second Year Initiatives Committee sponsored a Mystery Bus Trip to Kings Island for Haunt Night. 27 Students enjoyed connecting with new and old friends, free rides, live entertainment and, of course, everything spooky and haunted.

During the Homecoming Huddle T-shirt Swap, the National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH), Residence Hall Association (RHA), and Miami Activities and Programming (MAP) collected t-shirt donations as part of a donation drive to support those affected by Hurricane Harvey.

Resident Assistant Recruitment Fair had 123 students in attendance. In addition to learning about the RA position, students could learn about leadership opportunities available via the Wilks Leadership Institute. They also had the opportunity to participate in a resume review with our partners in the Career Center. Our attendance was up 212% from last year!

Peabody Hall hosted an event where 6 faculty, 28 students, and 2 residence life staff members came together for dinner and discussion based around the environment and education. Students and faculty engaged in small groups of 5-6 and discussed opportunities in the local area, students' educational goals, and work faculty were engaged in.

Rinella Learning Center

The Rinella Learning Center (RLC) achieved a milestone by providing over 10,000 hours of individual/group tutoring and supplemental instruction during week 11 of fall semester 2017. The RLC Testing Center has also proctored 2,120 exams so far this fall semester (up 78% from last fall).

Student Activities and Cliff Alexander Fraternity and Sorority Life and Leadership

Student Activities had a record number of students at the annual Mega Fair event this fall. Over 5,000 students attended the main mega fair and following that event 1,500 students attended the follow-up Student Organization Showcases that featured different clusters of student organizations each week following Mega Fair.

Late Night Miami continues to be a successful program for Student Activities. This semester alone, we have hosted 25 events with an average attendance of 165 students at each event. Student organizations have hosted an additional 50 Late Night Miami programs through this semester.

Fraternity and Sorority Life hosted its Annual ACROPOLIS Emerging Leaders program. This year we had 175 applicants for 80 student spots.

Student Counseling Service

The Suicide Prevention Team, a multi-disciplinary group coordinated through the Student Counseling Service, planned and produced the second annual Out of Darkness Suicide Prevention Walk on October 1, which resulted in over 200 participants representing a broad array of diverse student organizations as well as members of the greater Oxford community. The walk rose over $8,000 for suicide prevention activities for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Recommendations from the independent outside health review team from Keeling and Associates led to the addition of one administrative support position and two mental health counselor positions in Student Counseling Service. Consequently three searches were successfully conducted in the past three months, leading to the hire of an additional receptionist position in early September, a permanent licensed clinical social worker, and a temporary ABD/masters level mental health therapist position in mid-October. While the impact of the latter two positions is not yet fully reflected in the office stats, service statistics show:

A 12% increase in total number of appointments this October vs. last October, which includes 13% increase in individual counseling appointments and 29% increase in psychiatric appointments.

18 hospitalizations this year so far vs. 10 by the same time last year. This can in part, but not completely, be attributed to the new psychiatric hospitalization protocol and the clarity, quality of care, and confidence that the relevant players have in it.

A 7% increase in number of individual students served since start of classes in August.

A 12% increase in the number of new (never before seen) students served since classes began in August.

Student Disability Service

Student Disability Services (SDS) sponsored and hosted 4 events in October to advance the Divisional and Institutional mission of Diversity and Inclusion on campus

SDS co-sponsored the 4th Annual Accessibility Technology Symposium with IT Services on Thursday, October 12, 2017. The AT Symposium continues to be an excellent opportunity for faculty, staff and students to engage in discussion, learning opportunities, and professional development around the topic of accessible technology. 149 faculty, staff, and students attended the event.

SDS and Miami University hosted the annual conference of the Ohio Association of Higher Education and Disability (OH-AHEAD) on October 13. Over 100 disability services professionals from all over the state participated in a day of professional development and networking.

SDS hosted a Diversity and Inclusion reception in their new space in Shriver Center on Thursday evening, October 12. Attendees included participants of the Accessible Technology Symposium, the OH-AHEAD Conference, and the Inclusion Symposium sponsored by the Center for Teaching Excellence. Approximately 70 faculty and staff from the three events enjoyed the event.

SDS/Student Disability Advisory Council hosted an all campus Late Night event in bringing comedian DJ Demers to campus on Tuesday, October 17 as part of his month long "Here to Hear" tour of national colleges and universities sponsored by Phonak. The event raised awareness regarding hearing loss on college campuses. 249 students, faculty, and staff attended the event. DJ Demers said that Miami hosted the largest audience of the tour to date.

Student Wellness

During Fall Semester, the Step Up! Bystander Intervention training was delivered to over 1,000 first year students. Step Up! is a peer led training facilitated by the HAWKS Peer Health Educators.

As part of It's On Us Week over 500 students attend the Jackson Katz "Taking it Personally: Why Gender Violence is an Issue for Men" lecture on Monday, October 16th in Hall Auditorium.

The It's On Us Campaign has collected over 500 It's On Us Pledge submissions.

The required online modules, AlcoholEdu for College and Haven:Understanding Sexual Assault, were administered during the Fall semester and currently have a 98% compliance rate.

The Health Advocates pilot project is in partnership with the Office of Residence Life, and currently being implemented in Emerson, Hahne, and Collins halls. Health Advocates are Peer Health Educators (HAWKS) that become supporting members of these communities and provide health information that inspires their peers to embrace wellness. Because the Health Advocates hold regular office hours in the hall, attend residence hall staff meetings, and are members of these communities, the outcome is better integration of health messages in these halls. So far this semester, our Health Advocates have led "Brief Educational Interactions" (getting away from 1 hour programs) on the following topics - Health Advocate Introductions and Greetings, Coping with Stress, Party Etiquette (low risk alcohol use), Freshman 15 (nutritious meal planning), and Consent (sexual health/communication).

Staff Achievements

Dr. Buffy Stoll Turton, Orientation and Transition Programs Director, co-authored an article, You Don't Have to Be a Research Expert to Use Data Effectively, with Dr. Kathy Goodman, Assistant Professor in Miami’s Student Affairs in Higher Education program. The article appeared in the September 2017 edition of New Directions for Student Services.

The Women’s Center Director, Jane Goettsch, served on a roundtable at the November National Women's Studies Association annual conference; the focus of the roundtable was on building and strengthening connections with other campus identity centers.

Andrew Zeisler, Director of Student Disability Services, and Sean Poley, Director of Accessible Technology, IT Service, are co-facilitating a Faculty Learning Community for 2017-18 entitled "Accessibility & Inclusion." Ten faculty are participating and engaging in thoughtful discussion around topics including Universal Design, adaptive technology, and how to build accessible courses.

Emily Collins, RA in Dorsey Hall, won Top 10 Award for her presentation at the CAACURH conference in November on her presentation on Diamonds are Everyone’s Best friends: Self Worth and Recognition

Residence Life Graduate Assistants, Sharee Nurse and Natasha Young, won the Graduate-Level Case Study Competition in November at the Great Lakes Association of College and University Housing Officers Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana

Residence Life Graduate Assistant, Natasha Young, won a Great Lakes Association of College and University Housing Officers committee scholarship, which covered the cost of her registration at the conference.

Sarah Meaney, Assistant Director, was awarded the Great Lakes Association of College and University Housing Officers (GLACUHO) Professional Development Award. This award is presented to a GLACUHO member who has personally contributed to the area of professional development through: Significantly contributing in the area of professional development to the nominee's institution and to the profession.

Aidyn Scott, Resident Director, worked with staff from the University Libraries to develop an Information Literacy breakout to use as an option for UNV101 and for the libraries. The breakout is designed to give hands on experience with the content from the Information Literacy unit in UNV101 through the use of narrative and puzzles.

Sasha Masoomi, Assistant Director of Residence Life, served as the featured presenter at North Dakota State University's September all department RA In-service. Sasha presented on the topics of stress, motivation, mental health, and the importance of supervisor support.

2017 - Summer Highlights (through August 30)

Armstrong Student Center

Armstrong Student Center hosted the 4th Armstrong Palooza during Welcome Weekend. With novelties around the building, free samples of the dining concepts, Michael Kent's comedy and magic show, karaoke in the Red Zone, swing dance lessons, laser tag, a pop up roller rink and an acoustic duo on the Shade Family Room stage, the Class of 2021 had many entertainment options throughout the building.

With the opening of the east wing, the Armstrong Student Center student staff increased by about 1/3. We are starting the school with 66 student employees working as building managers, event production staff, Red Zone staff and information desk ambassadors.

Beginning this semester, Armstrong Student Center will have two locations for the campus-wide Newspaper Readership Program. Students will be able to pick up free copies of the New York Times, Cincinnati Enquirer or USA Today by the west entrance or near Cafe Lux.

Community Engagement and Service

After a competitive application process, Miami University has been named a National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Civic Learning & Democratic Engagement (CLDE) Lead Institution. NASPA’s Lead Initiative comprises a network of 96 NASPA member colleges and universities committed to encouraging and highlighting the work of student affairs in making civic learning and democratic engagement a part of every student’s college education. The Lead Initiative offers unique professional development opportunities, targeted resources, networking, and recognition for its Lead Institutions. This is the first time that Miami University has been a part of the Lead Initiative.

On Saturday, August 26, the Office of Community Engagement and Service (OCES) co-sponsored Rise Against Hunger with Orientation and Transition Programs during Welcome Weekend. Rise Against Hunger is a food packaging event which provides meals to food insecure populations across the globe. At this event, 160 student volunteers packaged 12,744 meals, exceeding our meal goal of 12,528.

Harry T Wilks Leadership Institute

The Wilks Leadership Institute funded the participation of two Miami undergraduate students in the National LeaderShape Institute session for a week in July.

We worked with the national headquarters of Sigma Alpha Pi: The National Society for Leadership and Success to focus on engaging invited members of the organization. The change of invitations and community building events yielded 1041 invites and a more competitive GPA for incoming second-year students.

The annual U-Lead pre-semester retreat for first-year students engaged 50 participants for a 4-day leadership experience to ease the transition to campus life and develop leadership through a variety of campus and Oxford community activities.

The 2017 Scholar Leader Retreat was held August 24 -26 at PVM in Camden, Ohio. Seventy-four Miami University students participated in this 3-day, transformational leadership experience focused on building community and setting students up for success in this unique Living Learning Community.

The Wilks Leadership Institute hosted a Leadership Coaching Retreat in June to examine the feasibility of developing a leadership coaching practice at Miami University. Speakers included President Crawford and Ruth Reitmeier, the Director of Coaching at the Doerr Institute for New Leaders, Rice University. Attendees represented many organizations from across campus. The Institute will hold additional meetings to further explore this potentially high-impact initiative.

Multicultural Affairs

MADE@Miami successfully engaged our first-year underrepresented and marginalized student populations with various staff, faculty and students through breakout sessions and group activities. We had 135 students register to participate and from that, 132 attended. We are currently working on follow-up programming to promote through the year to help them stay connected. The Armstrong Social on Wednesday evening proved to be an extraordinary event with both our domestic and international students who were on campus to attend various pre-semester programs coming together to enjoy the a range of social events.

On August 10 the Women’s Center moved from McGuffey Hall to the Armstrong Student Center to shared space with LGBTQ Services called the Women’s & LGBTQ Center. In 2016 the Student Affairs Division brought together the Office of Diversity Affairs, LGBTQ Services, and the Women’s Center – three distinct, yet closely aligned identity-based functional areas – into one department to create greater synergies, efficiencies, and mutual support in order to better serve students.

In terms of programming and outreach, the Women’s Center participated in the June and August Summer Orientation Fairs as well as Mega Fair. Over 50 new students visited the Women’s & LGBTQ Center at Armstrong Palooza on August 26. The Women’s Center partnered with the League of Women Voters of Oxford on August 28 to host a Voter Registration table in honor of Women's Equality Day. Rhonda Jackson is co-leading a weekly Qi-Gong Practice as part of Employee Health and Wellness.

Seven undergraduate student interns have been hired to work at the Women’s Center for 2017-18. Two Student Affairs in Higher Education (SAHE) graduate students will do their practicums at the Women’s Center this fall.

The Women’s Center's doctoral associate, Kyle Ashlee, continues to chair the Miami Masculinities Committee and is co-teaching a new 3-credit Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies course this fall called "Moving Beyond 'Man Up': Exploring, Deconstructing, and Reimagining Men and Masculinities."

Myaamia Tribe Relations

Daryl Baldwin, Kara Strass and Bobbie Burke spent May 28 – June 10 in Washington DC at the 2017 National Breath of Life Archival Institute for Indigenous Languages. This NSF funded two week program was a collaboration with the Smithsonian’s Recovering Voices Program in the National Museum of Natural History.

One student worked at the saakaciweeta (5 – 9 yrs) summer camp in Oklahoma, held during the same week as eewansaapita in Oklahoma.

There are 31 undergraduate Myaamia students enrolled this fall.

24 upper-class students -two are studying abroad: 1 in Luxembourg, 1 in San Sebastian, Spain

7 new 1st year students -two of them participated in pre-school programs: 1 in MADE@Miami, 1 in the Equestrian Program

On Sunday, August 27, the Myaamia Center staff met with the incoming students for a welcome lunch and orientation session. This is the second year that we have hosted this pre-classes event and continue to think these types of activities help demonstrate the support we want them to feel they have from the Myaamia Center.

A major overhaul of the Miami Tribe Relations webpages is complete and the new website launched August 25.

A new graphic representing the relationship with the Miami Tribe is complete and the symbolism about it appears on the Miami Tribe Relations (MTR) website.

The launch of an awareness effort about the Miami Tribe is underway. We started with the MTR website launch, followed by the inclusion of a 2 minute video (focusing on the Myaamia student experience at Miami) into the MTR, then efforts will follow to engage more departments across the campus in the coming weeks.

Off-Campus Outreach and Communication

The office held the first annual “Commuter Preview Day,” a pre-semester mini-orientation for incoming commuter students, on August 18. 30 incoming students attended. 10 returning commuters helped with the program. During the program, students:

Applied for/received parking passes

Toured the Commuter Center and registered for lockers

Participated in icebreakers and Q&A Panel

Walked uptown for lunch in the Oxford Memorial Park

The 15th Annual Walkabout was held on August 27 & 28. Walkabout is an annual program in which small groups of volunteers visit off-campus students in their rental houses/apartments at the beginning of fall semester. Volunteers welcome students back to town and provide useful information about living in Oxford; they also give chocolate chip cookies to each house that answers the door. Early numbers indicate that more than 80 volunteers visited and spoke to students at 561 residences and left material at an additional 298 residences. Volunteers included students, faculty and staff, community members, city staff, and Oxford Police Officers.

The Commuter Center Welcome Week event was held on August 29. Over 30 participants attended.

Orientation and Transition Programs

Summer orientation concluded in late June, with a total attendance of 3,462 first-year students and 4,924 guests over 16 sessions. This number is very close to our 2016 attendance. 97% of student survey respondents said orientation met or exceeded their expectations. An additional 108 students (77 first-year, 31 transfer) attended August orientation just before fall semester began. We saw a decrease in transfer students at August orientation, because more transfer students attended our one-day orientation sessions earlier in the summer.

Between May and August, we facilitated 11 sessions of Transfer One-Day Orientation, in collaboration with all five academic colleges. Over the 11 sessions, we oriented 77% of new domestic transfer students (up from 60% in 2016). Transfer one-day orientation serves the unique needs of transfer students and allows us to ensure that each new transfer student receives a comprehensive introduction to Miami.

Our very first Move in Miami campaign raised $470 from 12 donors to support the Student Orientation Undergraduate Leader program.

The orientation and Welcome Week mobile app is increasing in usership. Students and families accessed the guide over 219,000 times between May and August 2017, compared with about 10,400 times last year. This means the guide was used 21x more often this year than last year.

Welcome Weekend was a success, and First 50 Days programs are underway. Welcome Weekend was well-attended, and included new initiatives such as the Welcome Home Late Night event, which featured multiple event spaces and activities across campus, and concluded in a fireworks show!

OTP coordinated recruitment, matching, and training for over 100 undergraduate associates who will support nearly all of the 98 first-year transition courses (e.g., UNV 101), on the Oxford campus this fall, in which more than 1,800 students are enrolled. The strong partnership between student affairs, the provost’s office, and enrollment management continues to sustain and improve the first-year transition course initiative. Each OTP staff member also teaches 1-2 sections of UNV 101 or CEC 101.

OTP welcomed a new full-time Coordinator, Evelyn Covington, in May. Evelyn collaborates with each academic college as she administers academic advising at orientation. She is also leading our expansion of Welcome Weekend and First 50 Days programs and similar transition programs for new students.

Our two new undergraduate orientation student coordinators for 2017-18 started in mid-August. Shelby Frye is a second-year student in the College of Arts and Science, and Wyatt Bischoff is a junior in the College of Education, Health and Society. As student coordinators, they will lead the recruitment and selection of the 2018 SOUL team, and support the development and facilitation of summer orientation 2018.

Parent and Family Programs

In collaboration with Orientation and Transition Programs and offices across campus, this office oriented 4,972 family members of incoming first-year students across 16 sessions in June. 95.5% of students attending one of these sessions had at least one guest attend the concurrent Family Orientation session.

Oriented 98 family members of incoming first year and transfer students at August Orientation

Spoke with more than 100 family members of incoming transfer students at 9 Transfer Orientation sessions and 25 family members of students relocating to Oxford campus (from Regional campuses) at two Relocation Orientation sessions

Hosted the following webinars for families (In addition to initial attendance, recordings are posted online for later viewing):

About Move-In Day - with the Home Office and the Office of Residence Life, 240 families

About the first six weeks of college - with Dean of Students and Student Wellness - 53 families

Residence Life

87% of first year students participated in the annual Fire and Personal Safety Fairs. Students navigate the Great Escape (theatrical-smoke-filled corridor), debrief with two RAs, talk with an MUPD officer, Oxford EMTs and firefighters, and learn how to use a fire extinguisher.

Over 500 students participated in an alcohol alternative event during Welcome Weekend when several residence halls hosted Mayweather v. McGregor Match viewing parties.

Students, faculty, and staff from 16 of our student created Living Learning Communities participated in a comprehensive training session focused on goal setting, community building, and event planning. Topics covered via the Student Created LLCs include: entrepreneurship, appreciation of the arts, and diversity and social justice.

Students from McBride Hall had a very enthusiastic LLC welcome for their Innovation, Creativity, and Design community. Faculty member and Living Learning Community stakeholder, Dr. Michael Bailey Van Kuren attended the event. Students competed in a design challenge that resulted in a homegrown McBride Hall house sign.

The leadership team in the Entrepreneurship LLC attended a planning meeting with Professor David Eyman. Students brainstormed topics and ideas that they want to workshop with over the semester as well as projects they are excited to start-up in the hall and for the community.

51 Professional Staff members spent 5 weeks training for the upcoming school year. Presentations covered areas such as creating a developmentally appropriate and inclusive campus community, understanding and enforcing university policy, and helping students maximize university resources. While many sessions were presented by current staff members in the Office of Residence Life, we were fortunate to be able to learn from nearly 40 colleagues from around the university as well.

268 Resident Assistants spent 10 very full days preparing for the arrival of nearly 8,000 first and second year students. Resident Assistant training focused on the four areas of the residential curriculum: academic success, effective community engagement, intercultural awareness, and personal development. Outside presenters included the Office of Equity and Equal Opportunity, Dining Services, Office of Ethics and Student Conflict Resolution, as well as institutional and Divisional Leadership.

Rinella Learning Center

The Rinella Learning Center served over 8,000 students through various services during 2016-17 and witnessed significant increases in tutoring, supplemental instruction, and use of testing services. Most notable from this year is the increase in tutoring (+35%) and supplemental instruction (+58%) usage and increase in the number of hours spent proctoring exams (+63%).

Student Activities and Cliff Alexander Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life

A new Student Organization Advisor Development Program Curriculum was created this summer and will launch in the fall. This program is intentionally designed to reach all advisors and better train them to work with student organizations at Miami.

Student Counseling Service

Annual report data show that Student Counseling Service (SCS) staff provided another record number of service appointments in 2016-17-- 9,363-- an 8% increase over the previous year, including an 11% increase in individual counseling appointments, with no increase in paid staffing. The percentage of students receiving service from SCS in the past year also set another record, moving from 11.1% to 11.4%.

A presidential-initiated outside review of all health services, including SCS, was completed. The report has prompted approval for an immediate increase of two additional counseling staff and one additional administrative support staff in SCS. The report also recommended the recreation of an Assistant Vice President for Health Services whose duties will include working to ensure movement from a model of voluntary collaboration to one of integration among Student Health, Student Counseling, and Student Wellness, the three major departments providing health services. While the report also recommended complete renovation of the Health Services Center facility, short term minor renovations in SCS were approved to create space for the additional counseling staff in the short term.

SCS and The Haven have agreed to initiate intensive substance abuse treatment services to Miami students in Oxford with a mid-term plan to expand to provide substance abuse recovery housing programming and related services within the next year. This achievement is the result of collaboration among a wide number of offices within and without Student Affairs at Miami well as with Oxford community resources and offices.

SCS staff initiated a collaborative dialogue with Tri-Health, McCullough Hyde Memorial Hospital, and Good Samaritan Adult Behavioral Health Unit (Cincinnati) to improve the quality and efficiency of the hospitalization experience for Miami students requiring psychiatric hospitalization. Agreement is hoped for by fall semester.

SCS staff expanded the evolving partnership with the Eating Recovery Center in Cincinnati to include referral to a Virtual Intensive Outpatient treatment option for Miami students requiring intensive treatment for eating disorders. This option would allow enrolled students needing such treatment to remain enrolled while they participate in intensive treatment programming through state-of-the-art virtual tele-medicine technology.

Collaborative Efforts

The Town Gown Initiatives Team (TGIT) hosted the 2nd Annual Ohio Town Gown Summit, with 134 attendees from across the state. The event included breakout sessions on the student role in town gown relations, business/university relationships, and challenges of high risk alcohol consumption in the unique Ohio context. (Dean of Students, Student Wellness, Off-Campus Outreach and Communication, Community Engagement and Service, President’s Office, City of Oxford, Enjoy Oxford, and Talawanda School District)

Off-Campus Outreach and Communication and Community Engagement and Service partnered with Student Activities and International Student Scholar Services to offer a bus trip for 125+ international students to Jungle Jim’s International Market on August 24.

Parent and Family Programs collaborated with International Student Scholar Services (ISSS) to coordinate a luncheon and educational session for approximately 60 family members of incoming international students. Educational sessions were presented concurrently in English and in Chinese.

In collaboration with The Oxford Community Choice Pantry, the Office of Community Engagement and Service collected 2,231 lbs. of food at summer orientation this year, exceeding our goal of 2,021 lbs. The annual orientation food drive provides much needed canned items for local community members who are food insecure.

Staff Achievements and Accomplishments

Jen O’Brien, Director of Off Campus Outreach and Communication, presented at the International Town Gown Association (ITGA) conference in Eugene, Oregon, with Jessica Greene from Enjoy Oxford: “Beyond Welcome Week: Opportunities for Shared Experiences between Community Members and Students.”

Tiffany Seaman, Assistant Director of Student Activities and Jenny Levering, Director of Student Activities and Fraternity and Sorority Life, were selected to present at the National Association of Campus Activities Conference in October on best practices for Late Night Programming. The Late Night Miami program has become a nationally recognized effort and our department has been sharing ideas and resources widely so other campuses can have similar successes.

Drs. Melissa Schultz and Ashley Wilson from the Student Counseling Service completed a week-long national training to become certified as Mental Health First Aid Trainers, bringing the number of certified trainers on our staff to four.

Dr. Eric Buller presented a workshop entitled “High-Impact Campus Initiatives” at the Gallup Clifton Strengths Summit in Omaha, Nebraska. This presentation detailed the successes and challenges of implementing a campus-based Clifton Strengths for Students program.

Becca Getson, Sexual and Interpersonal Violence Response Coordinator, was named an “Unsung Hero” by United Way of Oxford.

2017 - Spring Highlights (through May 31)

Armstrong Student Center

The Armstrong Student Center East Wing is open for Orientation. Cafe Lux and Brick & Ivy Supplies and Technology are open for new students and their families to enjoy. The Center for Career Exploration and Success and Armstrong Student Center administrative staff moved into their new office suites in late May.

In 2017-2018, Armstrong Student Center hosted 2,005 events. This is a 24% increase over the previous year. 74% of these events were hosted by student organizations. Reservations for 2017-2018 opened on April 1st and, with eight new meeting rooms and the Joslin Student Senate now available, there are already 1610 reservations, 800 of which are in east wing spaces. This summer, the Fritz Pavilion is reserved for a wedding reception every available weekend for a total of 10 weddings.

Events in Armstrong Student Center in 2017-2018 brought in $450,000 in catering revenue for HDRBS. ASC Event revenue for this fiscal year is projected to be over $125,000.

ASC welcomes two new staff members in June, one of which is a new position with addition of the East Wing, and one is replacing a departing staff member. Shayna Sandbank will start as a new Program Coordinator and Scott Harrington will be the new Assistant Director for Event Production.

Community Engagement and Service

Harry T Wilks Leadership Institute

End of Year Programming Highlights:

83 programs delivered; 2467 participants

1002 StrengthsQuest workshop participants

Doubled U-Lead, a pre-semester leadership retreat, to 50 participants

Hosted the Southern Ohio Region of the Collegiate Leadership Competition

The Wilks Leadership Certificate Program awarded 56 certificates this spring. Of note, the entire women’s Field Hockey team completed the program. This is potentially a model for increased student-athlete engagement across campus in meaningful leadership development activities.

The Wilks Leadership Institute hosted its annual Leadership Lecture. This year’s speaker was Mr. Edward Davis, the 40th Police Commissioner of the City of Boston. He presented a talk entitled, “Policing in America: The Changing Landscape of Our Cities & Law Enforcement's Role in Protecting our Communities.” He also talked in detail about leadership demonstrated during the response to the Boston Marathon Bombing.

Sigma Alpha Pi: The National Society for Leadership and Success: After working with the National Headquarters to focus more on engaging invited members of the organization, the change of invitations and community building events yielded 70 members eligible for induction compared to 29 in 2015-2016.

Multicultural Affairs

This year for the Lavender Graduation ceremony we had the highest number of students since the beginning of the event to participate at 21.

We had 51 students participate in the Horizon Graduation ceremony.

The Office of Diversity Affairs is now fully staffed, with the 3 new members joining the team in June.

Myaamia Tribe Relations

Daryl Baldwin was the 2017 May commencement keynote speaker. Daryl also received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. He is the second Myaamia person to receive an Honorary degree from Miami. The first was Chief Floyd Leonard at the May 2005 commencement.

Six Myaamia seniors, all women, graduated in May, 2017. Their families and the Myaamia Center staff were invited by the President’s Office to watch the commencement ceremonies from the box suites at the top of Yager Stadium. This brings the total number of Myaamia graduates to 70.

Seven incoming first year students will be arriving in fall 2017. We are still waiting to hear whether a transfer student will also enter this fall.

Nine Myaamia students will be counselors at the Myaamia summer youth camps held in either Miami, OK or Fort Wayne, IN.

Off-Campus Outreach and Communication

Sent second annual Off Campus Living Survey to all junior students who live off campus in April/May. Survey had a 16.51% response rate, with 88.5% completion rate (over 16.08% and 85.93% last year, respectively).

Successfully coordinated 18 developmental conversation meetings with off-campus residents of houses that had received two or more noise and litter citations over the spring semester. Referred residents of seven houses to the Office of Ethics and Student Conflict Resolution as part of the Good Neighbor Policy.

The login-only "Roommate Finder" section of the Off-Campus Housing Service was successfully launched May 4, 2017 through Off-Campus Partners LLC. The Roommate Finder allows students to post profiles and contact each other to inquire about being roommates. In its first three weeks, more than 100 students have created profiles.

Orientation and Transition Programs

Summer orientation kicked off on Wednesday, May 31, with the first of sixteen summer sessions for the class of 2021. As of June 2, 94% of confirmed domestic students had registered for a summer orientation session; which is 2% down from last year at this time. We expect approximately 3,500 first-year students and 5,000 family members will summer orientation; the remaining new students (typically less than 100) attend August orientation, just before the start of fall semester.

Transfer one-day orientation kicked off on Friday, May 19, with the first of ten summer sessions for incoming transfer students and their families. New transfer students are required to attend a Transfer one-day, or to attend August orientation.

The Orientation and Transition mobile app is helping new students and families navigate orientation with schedules, maps, and other helpful program information; so far, the guide has been downloaded 1,441 times – an increase of 27% over last year. New this year – students are taking program surveys in the app rather than responding to a post-orientation email survey.

Welcome Weekend and First Fifty Days is our new design for transition programming at the start of the fall semester. We’ll expand from 12 days of Welcome Week programming to more than fifty days (seven weeks) of programs to support students during their transition to the university. Academic and student life offices and organizations are currently submitting programs for the calendar, which will appear on the Orientation and Transition mobile app.

Parent and Family Programs

23 Miami seniors were recognized with the President's Distinguished Service Award for service that demonstrates the spirit of being a citizen leader of uncommon quality. A selection committee of faculty and staff from the Hamilton, Middletown, and Oxford campuses reviewed the nomination materials of over 50 students to determine this year's recipients.

460 seniors received the Senior Service Leadership Award, which broadly recognizes Miami students who have demonstrated meritorious service in the areas of Campus Life, Community Service, Employee Service, and Intellectual & Cultural Leadership.

Over 350 student employees across all class years were recognized with the Employee Service Leadership Award who contributed to the fabric of Miami University through outstanding effort and accomplishments in their role as a student employee.

Residence Life

The Residence Hall Association’s annual RedHawk Hunt, a 12 hour scavenger hunt, was held this spring and had over250 students – comprising 22 teams – participating. While students enjoyed their hunt around campus to find clues, they also participated in service projects ranging from donations of blankets to Project Linus to making dog toys which were donated to the Animal Adoption Foundation in Hamilton.

In the spring an “Adulting 101 Fair”, coordinated by ORL’s Initiatives for 2nd Year Students Committee and in conjunction with the Office of Off Campus Outreach and Communication, the First Miami University Student Credit Union, and student groups, was held in the Armstrong Student Center. It was comprised of 12 stations to provide students information on topics ranging from meal planning, to money management, to sewing skills, to understanding leases. Over 100 students and community members participated.

In April, ORL again surveyed students about their experience living on campus. Here are some results:

2,046 students responded to questions asking them to comment about their capacities from the beginning of the academic year to the time of the survey “as it relates to living in residence halls on campus”.

Regarding their confidence in being successful at Miami, students reported a 15% increase

Regarding their curiosity about their fields of study, students reported an 8% increase

Regarding their comfort/feeling of belonging, students reported a 24% increase

Regarding their connections with others, students reported a 31% increase

1,231 first year students and 707 upper class students responded to questions asked of each cohort regarding goals of the residential curriculum, with the introduction “as a result of living in the residence halls/on-campus apartments” from the beginning of the year to the time of the survey.

First year students reported a 45% increase in their ability to identify and use academic resources, a 27% increase in their frequency of interaction with people “different from me”, and a 29% increase in the degree to which they thought about their strengths and areas for improvement.

Upper class students reported a 12% increase in assessing and refining their academic goals, an 8% increase in the degree to which they actively created an inclusive community, and an 11% increase in their frequency to reflect on their life experiences

Aggregately, there was a 16% increase in the degree to which they understood how their individual actions and decisions impacted their residential community.

Rinella Learning Center

We tutored a total of 1492 students during the 2016-17 academic year. This is 316 more students than last year.

We engaged a total of 2018 students in supplemental instruction for the 2016-17 academic year. This is 692 more students than last year.

Controlling for students using both services, the Rinella Learning Center served 2968 students through tutoring and supplemental instruction for a total of 19,193 appointments/contacts with students. Overall, our services in this area has increased 52% in the last year.

Student Activities and Cliff Alexander Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life

Miami Activities and Programming (MAP) hosted a variety of successful end of the year Late Night Miami events. More than 2,500 students attended Spring Fest, and the DNCE Concert had over 1,000 attendees. We are currently working on our fall calendar of events and will continue to offer Late Night Programs on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings through the upcoming fall semester.

The Interfraternity Council’s newly initiated Enhanced Member Experience Plan is having an impact on the fraternity community. With more advance planning and by requiring all fraternities to have their new member programming planned ahead and approved, we saw a significant decrease in the number of hazing reports received this year. Overall the spring semester for fraternities was much improved.

Our Pi Beta Phi past chapter president, Hannah Rosinski, was named top chapter president in the country for Pi Beta Phi National Women's Fraternity.

JS Bragg, Assistant Director of Student Activities, received a grant to develop a new table top games course for EDL. This course will launch in the fall and will focus on leaders developing through involvement and interaction with games.

300 Students attended the National Pan-Hellenic Council Step Show.

The Annual Student Organization Engagement and Leadership Awards recognized 30 student and Greek organizations for their leadership and commitment to campus life at Miami.

Student Counseling Service

More than 1,000 students took time from studying for finals to de-stress by participating in Dog Days/Horse Therapy at Finals, a two-day, pet therapy-based study break produced by the Student Counseling Service (SCS) staff at the Shriver Center with 22 dogs and two mini-horses.

A total of 1,276 clinical service appointments were provided by SCS staff in the month of April, a record for any one month ever at SCS. The record was driven mostly by a record high number of group counseling appointments, the most efficient use of professional staff time available, and marks achievement of a goal for the department to increase utilization of group counseling modalities.

SCS was supported in hiring a part-time temporary counselor to help to reduce the wait time for individual counseling. The counselor worked from March 27 through the end of semester, enabling the SCS to eliminate the wait time for individual counseling by the beginning of May.

SCS staff and the Suicide Prevention Team produced the campus-wide Stress Less Day on April 6 to teach and encourage healthy stress management and resiliency skills. More than 500 students participated.

Student Wellness

The Oxford-Miami Town Gown Initiatives Team was selected to participate in the Environmental Prevention Assessment and Planning Pilot sponsored by the Drug Free Action Alliance, Ohio College Initiative. The program's goal is to "assist campuses and their host communities reduce alcohol misuse among students by developing and enhancing environmental prevention efforts."

We ended the 2016-2017 academic year with more than 350 individuals in the Miami community taking the new online It's On Us pledge to end sexual violence at Miami.

HAWKS Peer Health Educators initiated an alumni award in honor of Tommy Koopman, Jr., the first president of HAWKS (2003-2006), for a graduating senior HAWK displaying passion and persistence. Our first honoree Cassandra Worner.

Women's Center

The Women's Center organized an anime-themed movie marathon highlighting female characters and a launch party for contributors to The Femellectual. Women's Center staff also presented workshops on women and leadership for an academic class (FSW 312) and on identity in the workplace for the annual SATSS conference. Total attendance: 120

The Women's Center partnered with several campus and community offices to co-sponsor six campus events: three HIV testing days; a performance by nationally recognized spoken word artists 'Guante' and Wilson Okello as part of It's On Us Week; a "Food, Faith, and Family Traditions" community gathering with the American and Muslim Women's Collaboration; and the We Run 5K Walk/Run to raise awareness of lymphedema. While the 5K was cancelled due to weather, $1000 was raised for lymphedema research. Total attendance/participation: 117

Collaborative Efforts

BACCHUS Miami chapter and the Talawanda High School Youth Initiative Team (YITS) partnered to launch a "sticker shock" campaign with local businesses. The sticker shock campaign uses stickers that remind patrons that buying alcohol for minors is illegal. The stickers are placed on alcohol packaging at local retail outlets.

Staff Achievements and Accomplishments

Kathy Jicinsky (Assistant Director of the Wilks Leadership Institute) and Dr. Gwen Fears (Associate Dean of Students) presented an educational session titled "Integrating Critical Reflection and Individualized Development Within Assessment: Creating and Utilizing Learning Agreements" at the 2017 University of Cincinnati Division of Student Affairs Assessment and Impact Conference on May 18.

Rhonda Jackson chairs the 1809 LGBT Alumni Board and has been elected to another two-year term. Under Rhonda's leadership, the Board presented four scholarships at the annual Lavender Graduation ceremony, which featured the largest graduating class in the event's history.

The Women's Center's SAHE practicum student Maria Cambone submitted a proposal to the Department of Global Initiatives to bring the Intergroup Dialogue method for discussing diversity issues to Miami in 2017-18.

In May, 10 undergraduate student residence hall leaders attended NACURH’s (National Association of College and University Residence Halls) annual conference, held this year at Purdue University. Alisha Boykin, one of Miami’s delegates, did two conference presentations, while two others, Zach Roebel and Erika Jeffers, were both inducted into the regional [CAACURH – Central Atlantic Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls] Alumni Association, and Erika was one of two regional students awarded the NACURH Diamond Award for distinguished service.

20 RAs achieved 4.0 grade point averages for spring semester, and the overall average grade point average for all RAs was 3.32.

Hannah Kempf, RA in Porter Hall, was awarded a Goldwater Scholarship.

Three ORL staff members had their writing published in the May/June edition of ACUHO-I’s Talking Stick, the association’s magazine. Erin Slater, Graduate Resident Director, Minnich Hall, and Vicka Bell-Robinson, Associate Director of Residence Life, co-authored an article titled “Outside the Bubble”, while Erik Sorensen, Assistant Director of Residence life, was a co-author of a segment of “Pride in Their Work”.

Lincoln Walburn, Armstrong Student Center Associate Director, has been selected by the Association of College Unions-International to serve on the Campus Shooting Dialogue Team.

Director, Christie Zwahlen, presented at “Listening to the City: Engagement, Exploration + Intervention Through Sound.” The conference, hosted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) by the National Endowment for the Arts, L.A. Listens, and MIT’s Community Innovators Lab, explored sound as a creative mode of inquiry, a tool for democratic engagement, and a means for social change. Zwahlen presented with former colleague on “Listening to and Through Need: Asset-Based Community Development Through a Historical Soundwalk Project.”

2017 - Spring Highlights (through March 31)

Armstrong Student Center

In late March and early April, three finalists visited campus for the new Program Coordinator position, an addition needed with the opening of the East wing of the building. Responsibilities for this position will include programming in the Red Zone and additional support for student organizations and university departments planning events in Armstrong.

Community Engagement and Service

Miami University has been designated a “Voter Friendly Campus” by NASPA and the Campus Vote Project. This prestigious designation, held by only 83 campuses nationwide, is awarded to recognize campuses doing excellent work to empower their students to get involved with democracy. The application process involved developing and implementing a campus-wide plan for voter registration and democratic engagement.

Miami University is named a “Partner in Democracy” by the Ohio Secretary of State for providing the most poll workers for the 2016 election season. Between the three campuses, Miami had 21 students/staff sign up to be poll workers - the most of any partner organization for the Partners in Democracy effort. The University will be honored for its efforts at an April 5th ceremony.

Community Engagement and Service (CES) hosted an event called “How Engaged Are We?: A Community Conversation on Civic Participation.” The invitation-only event had over 60 attendees and was held in the Undercroft at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. It featured Dr. John Forren and Dr. Theresa Conover, faculty in Miami Hamilton's Department of Justice and Community Studies and authors of the 2016 Ohio Civic Health Index, which provides Ohioans with a snapshot of residents’ levels of meaningful participation in community, political and civic affairs.

Harry T Wilks Leadership Institute

Over 100 high school emerging leaders and 22 of their faculty/staff from 20 different local high schools participated in the annual Wilks High School Leadership Conference on March 10th. The theme of this years’ conference was “The Power of You.”

Multicultural Affairs

ODA led a successful immersion trip to Atlanta to embrace Southern Black Culture in the media with 11 students.

The office collaborated with the Black Presidents’ Caucus to present a month of events for Black History Month. We had events such as: Know Your Roots, Black Faculty, Staff, Student and Alumni mixer, Field Trip to Freedom Center, Bowling Night, Hashtag Lunch Bag community service and ending with our Inaugural Black History Month Banquet with keynote speaker Mr. Clarence Bozeman.

With the assistance of the Division of Student Affairs, we were able to send 2 staff and 5 students to the Big XII Conference on Black Student Government conference at the University of Texas in Austin.

Myaamia Tribe Relations

Three Myaamia undergraduate students, plus Kara Strass and Jarrid Baldwin, spent 1 week in Washington DC helping prepare archival materials for the 2017 National Breath of Life. Trips like these are very important bonding experiences and allow for concentrated discussions about Myaamia culture and the use of Myaamia language.

The annual Myaamia Senior Night occurred on Wednesday, March 29. Five of the six seniors presented their independent projects meeting the requirement for two credits of EDL 499.

Colleen Scheible is creating a hands-on interactive lunar calendar for use with the Myaamia Saakaciweeta summer program for children ages 5-9. She was able to use her speech pathology major when determining the cognitive abilities and developmental needs of young children.

Gabbi McMullen is preparing a hand painted design on processed deer hide. Her original design represents her vision of the relationship between the Miami Tribe and Miami University. She was able to use her minor in paper science to show similarities between making paper and tanning animal skins.

Riley Theobald is preparing a Gardening Guidebook for use by teachers focused on healthy eating from farm to table. The focus on Myaamia traditional foods will be an additional diversity learning opportunity for classrooms. Riley combined both her major in Public Health and her minor in Environmental Sciences to create this project.

Kayla Petersen is a nutrition major and her project helps teach others the joy of creating interesting and nutritionally healthy recipes along with the fun that cooking can be when done together. She will be hosting cooking demonstrations and participatory activities in the KNH kitchens for others. The recipes she is choosing are using traditional Myaamia foods.

Kelsey Godfroy put her neuroscience minor to good use when researching language acquisition, especially when learning a 2nd language. She is compiling a booklet of methods and strategies for use by parents when attempting to teach Myaamia young children the Myaamia language.

Two of the Myaamia seniors will be heading to graduate school next year. One will be staying at Miami for a master’s degree in Speech Pathology.

Eight Myaamia high school seniors have been admitted to Miami for 2017-18. Two have confirmed at this date. Unfortunately, two Myaamia applicants were denied.

Off-Campus Outreach and Communication

Launched an off-campus housing service (https://offcampushousing.miamioh.edu/), a searchable database of off-campus housing options, in partnership with Off Campus Partners, LLC. The service includes sublease listings, a roommate finder, and other tools to help students through the process. In its first six weeks, the site has generated over 24,000 page views from 1,825 unique users, and an average session duration of over 5.5 minutes.

With the Associated Student Government, hosted the Spring Off-Campus Housing Fair, with 167 students in attendance and 20+ landlords and property managers in attendance.

Established new "Presentations by Request" program for RAs and various offices to request workshops on topics related to finding off-campus housing and moving off-campus.

With the Off-Campus Ambassador student employees, presented four workshops to more than 35 students. Also hosted a webinar on the off-campus housing search to more than 100 parents.

Supplied 12 bulletin boards on moving off-campus to RAs for use in the residence halls.

Orientation and Transition Programs

As most of the campus is focused on winding down the spring semester, Orientation and Transition Programs is busy preparing for our next incoming class.

Summer orientation registration launched on Friday, March 17, two weeks earlier than in previous years. Since registration opened, 1062 first-year students have registered for one of our 16 summer orientation sessions – about 59% of confirmed domestic students. This percentage is on track with typical orientation registration progress.

Student Orientation Undergraduate Leaders (SOULs) were recently selected, and have begun a training course to further build their mentoring and leadership skills. The SOUL team includes 24 dynamic and diverse students from across all academic colleges.

Welcome Week programming will expand from 12 days to approximately seven weeks of programming to support the transitions of new students this fall. OTP is working closely with Student Activities, Residence Life, and other campus partners on this expansion, re-branding fall transition programming as Welcome Weekend and First Fifty Days. Many traditional programs will remain on the schedule, particularly for Welcome Weekend – between move-in and the start of fall classes.

Parent and Family Programs

Coordinated three virtual Town Hall meetings regarding High-Risk Alcohol, with mostly parents in attendance. Live participation ranged from 45 to 110, with the recordings posted online for viewing at any time. Recordings were posted online for later viewing by those unable to join live.

Hosted Miami University Parents Council spring meeting. The Council remains focused on the three following areas:

Career Development with a focus on increasing the number of organizations recruiting at Miami for internships and full time positions, as well as with developing business acumen in students who do not pursue a business degree.

Health & Wellness with a continued focus on decreasing high risk alcohol use and an added focus on assisting with efforts around sexual and interpersonal violence education and prevention. This group worked with the Office of Student Wellness to create a video designed to encourage parents to talk with students about high-risk alcohol.

Fraternity & Sorority Life with a focus on preventing the most dangerous types of hazing. This group worked with the University to send a message from the Parents Council to parents of new fraternity/sorority members, as well as a message to parents of current fraternity/sorority members, engaging parents’ efforts to end hazing.

Residence Life

Provision of $50 each to 18 residence halls, who sponsored alternative events on Thursday, March 16, 2017

19 student created LLCs, housing ~350 students, were approved for 2nd year housing for 2017-18

446 students attended the Spring Semester Art After Dark event held in the Armstrong Student Center

New qualified RA candidates numbered 236 after all interviews were completed; 146 current RAs are returning for 2017-18

12 members of the National Residence Hall Honorary and Eco Representatives from the residence halls participated in the 2nd annual “Green Clean” Day, a clean-up program on Friday, March 17, 2017. Renate Crawford accompanied the students on their endeavor as part of the Town-Gown relationship efforts.

Rinella Learning Center

To date for spring semester, the Rinella Learning Center has served 584 students through individual or group tutoring for a total of 2,249 tutoring sessions and served 899 students through the supplemental instruction program for a total of 2,609 supplemental instruction contacts.

The Rinella Learning Center has also proctored 944 individual exams through the RLC Testing Center.

Student Activities and Cliff Alexander Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life

The staff held over 150 one on one chapter advising meetings in the months of January and February with Fraternity and Sorority chapters, student leaders and chapter advisors. These meetings covered important topics such as risk management, hazing prevention, leadership and accountability.

The department received a total of 104 student organization award nominations for the 2017 Student Engagement and Leadership Awards program we will host in April. This is a 20% increase from previous years.

The HUB, our Student Activities online student organization portal, saw a 38% increase in users over the last month. The system hosted a total of 52,000 views in the month of February.

Student Counseling Service

Student Counseling Service (SCS) staff initiated programming for National Eating Disorder Awareness Week (Feb 28-March 3, 2017) in collaboration with various offices and departments to produce the first Eating Disorders Awareness Week in many years at Miami. SCS staff provided 5 trainings in The Body Project, a national body-acceptance intervention program designed to help college-age women resist sociocultural pressures to conform to the thin-ideal, to a total of 45 female student participants, and provided free screenings in eating disorders.

​430 students attended Dog Day at Midterms and Miniature Therapy Horse Day at Midterms. Fourteen therapy dogs and 4 miniature therapy horses and their handlers attended the event, designed to help students take pause from their studies and to de-stress with the therapy animals.

Student Wellness

More than 100 student-athletes participated and completed the Escalation Workshop as part of the additional prevention education for sexual assault and interpersonal violence. The Escalation Workshop helps students understand and identify "red flags" related to dating violence.

The Just Call campaign was relaunched during spring semester. Awareness activities, posters, and a social media blitz highlighted the importance for students to call for help when a friend exhibits the signs and symptoms of alcohol poisoning or drug overdose. HAWKS Peer Health Educators hosted a Just Call panel with representatives from the Oxford Police Department, Oxford Fire Department, Miami University Police Department, and the Miami University Office of Ethics and Student Conflict Resolution and facilitated a Q&A session related to the Good Samaritan policy. Over 200 students attended.

Women's Center

The Women's Center was the primary organizer/sponsor of 8 campus events including a Men at Miami panel; presentations on topics like sexism, gender discrimination, and healthy relationships; two workshops on art and creative writing for social change designed for students interested in submitting pieces to the Women's Center's annual publication, The Femellectual; a movie marathon featuring three Japanese anime films; and the Celebrating Global Sisterhood event. Total attendance at the eight events: approximately 200.

The Women's Center also co-coordinated and co-sponsored the second gathering of the newly-formed Ohio Consortium of Men and Masculinities in Higher Education (OCMMHE) held on March 17 at The Ohio State University. Approximately 30 students, staff, and faculty attended the meeting and learned about best practices for supporting the development of healthy masculinities among college men.

In addition, the Women's Center spoke with three academic classes: two WGS 201 (Introduction to Women's Studies) classes and an EDL 203 (Introduction to Critical Youth Studies) class. Total attendance: 63

Collaborative Efforts

Community Engagement and Service teamed with Student Activities, International Student and Scholar Services, and Level 21 (who provided a 12-passenger van for transportation) to host the first-ever Local Alternative Spring Break targeted at International students, but open to the entire campus. In total, 20 students (15 international and 5 domestic) participated in three days of service in Oxford, Hamilton, and Cincinnati. Community partners included Oxford Parks & Recreation, Silvoor Biological Preserve, Habitat for Humanity, Booker T. Washington Community Center, and Matthew 25.

The signature Lessons in Leadership event this year was the newly created Passion-Driven Career Leadership Symposium held on Friday, February 24th. Thirty Miami University students participated in this 3-hour, alumni-guided career and leadership experience. It was organized into a keynote speaker and two subsequent panels with a total of 8 Miami alumni from various fields of study and career fields. This was a collaborative effort between the Wilks Leadership Institute and Career Services.

Diversity Affairs partnered on a collaborative event, the Dining Sophistication Techniques business etiquette dinner, led by Kia Nalls from the Center for Career Exploration and Success and the ladies of the Zeta Mu chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

1,421 students participated in the Greeks Step Up program in the month of February. This bystander education program focuses on teaching students how to look out for one another in situations involving alcohol, hazing and sexual assault.

The Women's Center partnered with several other offices to co-sponsor an additional 7 campus events, including four HIV testing days (with the Office of Student Wellness), World Hijab Day (with International Student & Scholar Services), a discussion of body image and intimacy (with the Student Counseling Service), and a Women's Read-In (with University Libraries).

Alcohol Coordinating Committee

The Dean of Students office hosted a community Town-Hall meeting on Friday, February 24 from 4pm-5pm. The topic, Building a Better Community by Confronting High-Risk Alcohol Consumption, attracted about 120 students, faculty, staff and Oxford community members.

The ACC hosted a visit from Dr. John Clapp, currently Professor and Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development at The Ohio State University, College of Social Work. He is also the director of Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention and Recovery located at OSU. Dr. Clapp interviewed stakeholders at Miami University and the city of Oxford to examine efforts related to high-risk alcohol behaviors and prevention. His recommendations have been presented to President Crawford and will help inform future ACC efforts.

Staff Achievements and Accomplishments

The Division of Student Affairs was recognized as one of this year’s “Most Promising Places to Work in Student Affairs” for 2017 by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education.

Rhonda Jackson received the Staff Award at the March 10 Lavatus Powell Diversity Banquet.

Sexual Assault Response Coordinator Becca Getson and Office of Student Wellness Education and Prevention Coordinator Kathie Wollney co-presented at a state conference hosted by the Ohio Department of Higher Education, presenting about Miami’s It’s On Us campaign to end sexual and interpersonal violence in our community.

Lincoln Walburn from the Armstrong Student Center has been appointed to the Association of College Unions-International (ACUI) Campus Shooting Dialogue Team.

13 ORL staff members presented/co-presented 16 programs at the spring regional & national professional student affairs conferences, and 4 other ORL staff members contributed their talent to conference-related committees and commissions

Kara Strass’ poster proposal was selected by ACPA and she participated in the poster sessions on March 20 and 21. Her topic was Incorporating Culture into Student Affairs Practice for Myaamia Students.

OTP Assistant Director Elizabeth (Liz) Walsh is serving as the Presidential Intern for Dr. Stephen John Quaye (Miami faculty of Student Affairs in Higher Education) during Stephen’s tenure as president of ACPA: College Student Educators International. Liz began her role in spring 2016, and will serve in her role through spring 2018.

2016-17 - Fall and Winter Highlights (through January 31)

Armstrong Student Center

Armstrong Student Center hosted 875 events from July 1 to December 31. This is an 11% increase from the same time period last year. Additionally, over 10,000 reservations were made for study room space.

This coming summer, there are 9 weddings scheduled in the Fritz Pavilion. This is an increase from 5 weddings held here in 2016. All but one available weekend is booked.

We are honored to be the future site of the prestigious Lilly Conference hosted by the Center for Teaching Excellence in November, 2017. Having outgrown the Marcum Hotel and Conference Center, the Armstrong Student Center East Wing provided the space needed to keep this event on campus.

Community Engagement and Service

Community Engagement and Service (CES) conducted surveys with students in Service-Learning classes over the fall 2016 semester. Out of 448 total respondents:

88% of students agreed or strongly agreed that the community participation aspect of the course helped them to see how the subject matter they learned can be useful in everyday life.

86% of students agreed or strongly agreed that serving in the community helped them to become aware of their personal strengths and weaknesses.

84% of students agreed or strongly agreed that the idea of combining work with the community and university course work should be practiced in more courses at Miami.

81% of students agreed or strongly agreed that their interactions with the community partner enhanced their learning in the course.

215 hours of service (1:1 tutoring) was provided to elementary-age students in Butler County through the America Reads/America Counts (ARAC) Federal Work Study Program this fall. ARAC is designed to enhance the primary-level reading and math skills of children in our community while providing Miami students with the opportunity to impact children’s lives, develop a greater understanding of our youth’s educational needs, and develop valuable soft skills. 36 ARAC tutors are currently working in area schools and have attended an orientation and a training session focused on child poverty in Ohio.

7 students, 3 staff members and President and Dr. Crawford, participated in a Service Saturday event at the Animal Adoption Foundation. Miami students and staff worked with dogs at the foundation to provide exercise and socialization. A breakfast at Hanna House with the Crawford’s preceded the event and was well attended by students and senior leadership from the Animal Adoption Foundation.

Multicultural Affairs

Through the support of the following departments, we were able to take 11 students and 2 staff members to Atlanta, GA to immerse them into Southern Black Culture. Those departments are: Career Services; Student Activities; EHS; Media, Journalism & Film, CAS; Women's Center; Miami Family Fund; EDL; Wilks Leadership Institute; Division of Student Affairs

We were able to take tours at the various locations: CNN studios, APEX Museum, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Center, Center for Civil Rights, Ebenezer Church, Smith Family Farm at the Atlanta History Center, World of Coke, Georgia Aquarium, College Football Hall of Fame, Clark Atlanta University, Spellman College, and Morehouse College

We were able to dine at some of the city’s best Black Owned restaurants such as Mango Caribbean Restaurant, The BQE Lounge & Restaurant, The Corner Grill, and The Beautiful Restaurant

We also enjoyed dinner with Miami Alumni, Terence Moore. He shared some great history about Miami and his experience.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Event: The following departments and community groups collaborated with the ODA to present the annual MLK event: Office of the President, Office of Residence Life, Oxford NAACP, Talawanda School District, Center for American & World Cultures, Oxford Community Art Center, Smith Library of Regional History, McGuffey Foundation School, and Oxford Citizens for Peace & Justice. Approximately 300 people attended from both the Miami and Oxford communities, and Dr. Tammy Kernodle served as our amazing keynote speaker

The Office of Diversity Affairs (ODA) is working alongside the students within the Black Presidents Caucus to create a calendar of events for Black History Month. There will be at least 2 events each week and we will conclude the month with a banquet.

Myaamia Tribe Relations

Ten Myaamia high school seniors have applied to Miami for 2017-18. Eight have been accepted so far. We are waiting to hear if they will confirm to attend Miami.

The annual January trip to the Miami Tribe Winter Gathering and Stomp Dance (January 26-29, 2017) just concluded. 60 people were in attendance who are currently affiliated with Miami or have been in the past. 41 people traveled on the chartered bus for the 4-day weekend.

Greg & Renate Crawford, Ted Pickerill, Jim Oris, and Deedie Dowdle and other faculty and staff members also joined the gathering.

Off-Campus Outreach and Communication

Launched "Take Time Before You Sign Campaign" with printed and digital materials distributed to residence halls and in strategic locations around campus with messaging to first year students about the lease signing process.

With a group of engaged and passionate commuters, we reimagined and overhauled the Commuter Council organization. The group is now called "Commuters of Miami" and has an updated, more robust and more inclusive constitution. Membership grew this semester from 3 or 4 students to 14 active members.

Successfully coordinated 29 developmental conversation meetings with off-campus residents of houses that had received two or more noise and litter citations.

Orientation and Transition Programs

For students entering in spring term 2017, Orientation and Transition Programs (OTP) offered 4 one-day orientation sessions that introduced transfer students and their families to academic and student life at Miami. Attendees met other new transfer students and family members; discussed community expectations, university policies, and campus safety; explored housing and meal plan options; discussed financial aid and bill payment options; learned about involvement opportunities and campus resources; and met with an academic advisor; and registered for spring semester classes.

50 total students attended (all four sessions) (up from 36 students in 2016)

37 total family/guests attended with 33 students (of the 50 total students, 17 did not bring a guest)

New students who were relocating from one of Miami’s regional campuses were invited to attend an orientation session designed specifically for relocation students on Tuesday evening, January 17, 2017, which drew over 50 attendees (32 students and 24 family/guests).

In collaboration with International Student and Scholar Services, OTP concluded our spring term orientation season with our two-day January orientation, attended by both international and domestic first-year and transfer students.

121 total students attended (down from 199 total students in 2016, in large part due to the transfer one-day programs)

OTP staff members are currently reviewing applications for Student Orientation Undergraduate Leaders (SOULs) to join our 2017-2018 team. This year’s pool of applicants is large and diverse; applications numbers are almost exactly the same as last year.

As we wrap up January orientation, we quickly move to continued planning for summer orientation for the class of 2020. Online registration for summer orientation sessions begins in late March, and OTP will offer 16 orientation sessions from May 31 – June 29, 2017.

37 transfer students are registered for UNV 101, a 1-credit, 8-week transition course (up from 13 in 2016)

Residence Life

An analysis of the results of the Assessment of Living & Learning Survey, conducted in late fall semester, has shown that in all categories related to the effectiveness of the RA staff, students report higher percentages of satisfaction compared to last year. Furthermore, 91.03% of students agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, “I am having a positive experience in my residential community.” 3,588 students, or 46.6% of all residential students, responded to the survey this year.

305 new students applied to be Resident Assistants for 2017-18. 147 current RAs, or 56% of the current RA staff, indicated a preference to return to their position next year.

37 current RAs received 4.0 GPAs for fall semester, 2017-18.

32 RAs were hired to work during Winter Term. About 400 students were in the halls early in winter term, with about 1,000 during orientation and the last week of the winter term.

Rinella Learning Center

During fall semester, we served over 1,000 students with tutoring (totaling 4,680 appointments) and we served over 1,300 students through Supplemental Instruction (totaling over 5,000 contacts with students).

During fall semester we served roughly 600 students through testing services, proctoring almost 2,000 individual exams in one semester.

Student Activities and Cliff Alexander Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life

For spring 2017, 1004 men signed up for fraternity recruitment, 860 met eligibility requirements, and our preliminary report shows that 625 men have accepted bids. 1246 women signed up for sorority recruitment, and 1130 met eligibility requirements. At the time of this writing, recruitment was still going on, so we do not have final numbers for how many women received and accepted a bid.

The newly developed online course for students interested in joining a fraternity or sorority launched on January 13. This course is a two-part online educational experience to educate potential new members about the organizations on campus and sets expectations regarding behavior, membership, and hazing. As of January 31, 1,870 students have completed both parts of the course, and we are following up with the 48 students who are still active in the recruitment process and have yet to finish both parts of the course to ensure completion.

Student Counseling Service

Student Counseling Service (SCS) staff, in collaboration with MU's Psychology Department and other interested staff implemented The Body Project, a national evidence-based psycho-educational, peer delivered program on body image and eating disorder awareness, with the aid of a grant from the national treatment group called the Eating Recovery Center. This included selecting and training 8 staff and graduate students in how to lead Body Project sessions and conducting an initial round of sessions to a couple of dozen students. More sessions are planned for spring semester as SCS staff help facilitate an eating disorder awareness campaign in coordination with the national campaign.

SCS staff provided two sessions of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) to Housing, Dining, Recreation and Business Services Supervisory staff and a third to Learning Specialists in Inter-Collegiate Athletics. MHFA is an international evidence-based 8-hr long training for lay individuals in how to recognize, intervene with, and refer to professional services students who appear to be struggling with a mental health condition.

End of semester data shows that student usage of the anonymous Online Mental Health Screening program increased by a dramatic 439% over the same time period last year to a total of 431. We suspect this surge is likely due to large increases in outreach and student engagement that SCS achieved over this fall semester as well as to the inclusion of access to screening through the JustInCase app.

Student Wellness

The student organization BACCHUS in collaboration with the Women's Center provided Free HIV testing to 91 individuals during the Fall Semester.

A Training session to education faculty and staff on resources available and prevention education opportunities was presented at the ReCharge Conference on Miami's Middletown campus.

New first-year students starting spring semester will be completing HAVEN: Understanding Sexual Assault, a required online course. A presentation about HAVEN: Understanding Sexual Assault, wellness information, and campus resources was completed with international students during their January orientation.

Women's Center

The Women's Center co-sponsored the 2016 World AIDS Day Observance, which included a movie screening and initial work on what will become a World AIDS Day Quilt (with Diversity Affairs/GLBTQ Services), attendance 25

Collaborative Efforts

Through partnerships with offices across campus, Parent & Family Programs piloted a series of webinars for parents and families, providing timely interactive education beyond the bounds of written newsletters. Three webinars have occurred thus far: supporting a student through sorority recruitment, supporting a student through fraternity recruitment, and supporting a student through the study abroad planning process. Upcoming topics include the off-campus housing search and student career development. Attendance during the live session has ranged from 40 to 115. Recordings are also posted online for viewing at any time.

The Rinella Learning Center (RLC) and Student Disability Services (SDS) moved to the beautifully renovated 3rd floor of the Shriver Center. The suite offers upgraded office, seminar, testing, and tutoring space, as well as a more centralized location in the heart of campus.

The Scholar Leader Community, advised by the Wilks Leadership Institute, along with Marcy Miller (executive director of Miami University Hillel) and the Office of Community Engagement and Service collaborated to offer the 2017 Winter Immersion Service Experience (WISE) Trip to Nashville, Tennessee from January 18th-21st, 2017. The WISE trip is an annual collaborative effort concentrated around the ideas of power, privilege, and social justice. This year, 20 undergraduates and 4 staff advisers participated in the trip. Highlights include:

Volunteering at the Second Harvest Food Bank, the Preston Taylor Ministries After-School Program and the Nashville Rescue Mission

Touring the Tennessee State Museum and attending the Grand Ole Opry to learn about the history of Nashville’s music culture and noteworthy government political figures.

Dinner, conversation, and reflecting with a Hillel community member who lives in the Nashville area

Alcohol Coordinating Committee

Continuing our conversation about ways to support Miami students who are in recovery, The Haven at College presented the findings of their community mapping exercise to the Alcohol Coordinating Committee on January 4, 2017. The Haven has proposed opening an outpatient/recovery clinic for Miami students in fall 2017, followed by a recovery residence in spring or fall 2018. The ACC/Dean of Students office is now working closely with The Haven to identify appropriate space (on campus or in the community) and to work through other details to allow for the ambitious goal of a fall 2017 opening.

The first round of the Alcohol Responsibility Program that partners Oxford/Miami University and the Responsible Retailing Forum/International Town Gown Association will occur in mid-February. In this round, trained mystery shoppers will randomly visit local establishments doing ID compliance checks. The local permit holders visited will then receive a report on their level of compliance, and our Alcohol Coordinating Committee will receive and review aggregate results across all establishments.

The recently formed Town-Gown Initiatives Team (TGIT), an Oxford-Miami partnership that includes several staff members from Student Affairs, submitted the winning proposal to host the second annual Ohio International Town Gown Association conference in July 2017. The conference will be held in the Farmer School of Business. The culminating session of the conference will focus on how Ohio state law impacts the ability of town-gown partnerships to address high-risk alcohol consumption.

Staff Achievements and Accomplishments

Tiffany Seaman, Armstrong Student Center Assistant Director was awarded the Most Outstanding New Professional Award for the National Association for Campus Activities. This is an annual award within the national association that recognizes one new professional a year.

Two Residence Life staff members, Sarah Meaney, Assistant Director of Residence Life, and Tricia Sherrard, Assistant Resident Director, Tappan Hall, along with Othello Harris, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology & Gerontology, led a 17-day international trip to Fiji for 19 undergraduate students that took place during Winter Term 2017. Students were enrolled in SJS/SOC 399: Social Justice in Fiji. This experience provided the opportunity for students to earn academic credits while immersing themselves in Fijian culture through remote village home stays, hiking, sea-kayaking, and snorkeling, lectures on educational and environmental justice issues by University of the South Pacific faculty members, a trip to the US Embassy, and multiple kava ceremonies celebrating the traditional welcome of the Fijian people. The trip focused on educational and environmental justice and challenged students to expand their own worldviews and discover just as much about themselves as they were learning about Fijian life.

Two Residence Life staff members have been selected to serve as faculty members for the Association of College & University Housing officers – International [ACUHO-I] professional development institutes: Vicka Bell-Robinson, Associate Director of Residence Life, has been selected as a faculty member for ACUHO-I’s National Housing Training Institute, and Sasha Masoomi, Assistant Director of Residence Life, has been selected as a faculty member for ACUHO-I’s STARS College.

Four members of the Residence Life staff, Chatrice Barnes, Erin Slater, and Marissa Maulbeck (all Graduate Residence Directors), and Vicka Bell-Robinson, Associate Director of Residence Life, were involved in conference presentations at the recent Ohio College Personnel Association’s annual conference held in Worthington, Ohio.

Orientation and Transition Programs staff (Assistant Director Elizabeth (Liz) Walsh and Director Buffy Stoll Turton) are serving on the conference planning committee for the upcoming regional conference of NODA: The Association for Orientation, Transition & Retention in Higher Education. Liz and Buffy will lead ROLI – the Returning Orientation Leader Institute – a portion of the conference designed to boost leadership skills for experienced orientation leaders. Liz and Buffy will attend the conference on March 10-12 in Cleveland with two graduate practicum students, two undergraduate student coordinators, and several of the newly selected SOULs.

Orientation and Transition Programs Director, Buffy Stoll Turton, has recently been named Chair of the research committee of NODA: The Association for Orientation, Transition & Retention in Higher Education. This national group supports the research mission of NODA as a professional association.

2016 - Fall Highlights (through November 17)

Community Engagement and Service

America Reads/America Counts: 1,030 hours of service (1:1 tutoring) has been provided to elementary-age students in Butler County through the America Reads/America Counts (ARAC) Federal Work Study Program so far this term. ARAC is designed to enhance the primary-level reading and math skills of children in our community while providing Miami students with the opportunity to impact children’s lives, develop a greater understanding of our youth’s educational needs, and develop valuable soft skills. 33 ARAC tutors are currently working in area schools and have attended an orientation and a training session focused on child poverty in Ohio.

Service Days: 151 students provided 455 hours of service to the Oxford area community through Service Saturdays and the Interfaith Day of Service. Students worked at Kramer Elementary School, the Animal Adoption Foundation, The Knolls (Senior Living Community), Oxford Empty Bowls (annual event), The Coalition for Healthy Communities, and local arts organizations to fulfill community needs. Each Service Day was accompanied by a reflection session that facilitated student learning and growth around issues of public importance.

Voting & Election Day:

Voter Registration - In partnership with the Armstrong Student Center, 350 students were registered to vote on campus.

Party at the Polls - An Election Day event outside the Shriver Center with two aims: 1) to celebrate the right to vote and make voting a fun experience for students; and, 2) to provide students with information about their polling location, confirmation of registration, and acceptable forms of ID. Party at the Polls was generously co-sponsored by Miami Activities and Programming (MAP), Kappa Alpha Theta, The Panhellenic Council, Student Activities, and the Andrew Goodman Foundation’s Vote Everywhere program.

Community Health Dinner: 42 students, faculty, staff and community members attended October’s Community Dinner focused on public health issues. The dinner, held at Talawanda High School, was co-sponsored by the City of Oxford and the Coalition for Healthy Communities and attended by the Mayor and Dr. Renate Crawford. The discussion centered around pressing public health issues in and around Oxford and possible solutions for problems such as substance abuse, obesity, and access to mental health care.

Harry T. Wilks Leadership Institute

This fall semester, in partnership with the Leadership Certificate Program, the Wilks Lesson in Leadership team implemented 5 events with diverse facilitators and relevant topics:

Oxford: More than a College Town with Mayor of Oxford Dr. Kate Rousmaniere

The ABC’s of Leadership with Miami Alumnus Mark Canon

When you Miss the Final Touchdown with Miami Alumnus and Obama speech writer Kevin Samy

We have seen an increase in attendance this year (out of the 4 years of existence), ranging from 12-60 participants.

The Wilks Leadership Institute hosted the annual Strengths-based Perlmutter Leadership Conference on October 23. The number of Miami students in attendance this year more than doubled from the previous year: up to 138 students in attendance compared to 65 in 2015. Throughout the conference, students participated in multiple Strengths-based sessions, activities, and discussions led by Gallup-trained facilitators from Miami University and the University of Cincinnati. Students mentioned the following as important lessons learned as a result of attendance:

How to connect their strengths to daily life

Confidence in effectively talking about their strengths to others in a variety of settings

The importance of focusing and building on strengths

In its second year, 65 students completed applications to participate in the Leadership Certificate Program for 2016-2017, up 18% from 2015 (55 students). The Leadership Certificate Program is a one-year program in which students are expected to complete a series of required leadership development activities and experiences. All Miami undergraduate students are eligible for participation.

Wilks Leadership Workshop Series. The Institute hosted two of the four workshops this semester. Both workshops, Growth & Authenticity and Character & Responsibility saw higher enrollments than previous years. This is likely due to the increase engagement in the Leadership Certificate Program.

Multicultural Affairs

GLBTQ+ Services, Women's Center, Spectrum and the ODA hosted Pumpkin Pride on Thurs. Oct. 27th for 50+ students to have an opportunity to have time to relax, paint pumpkins, enjoy snacks and music with one another.

ODA and DAC hosted the 5th Annual Multicultural Student Leadership Conference themed "Crossing Borders: Global Leadership and Inclusion" on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016. We had 11 breakout sessions, presented by our undergraduate and graduate students, for participants to choose from throughout the day. Our keynote speaker was Noor Tagouri, the first hijabi journalist on commercial television in the United States of America.

DAC and ODA hosted the Global Holiday Party for students, staff and faculty on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016 with a variety of entertainment acts by student organizations.

Myaamia Tribe Relations

EDL 317 – Myaamia Language and Culture is the Myaamia student class this semester. 26 undergraduate students are enrolled in this first half of the Myaamia language year-long topic.

Six seniors are working on their Myaamia senior projects this semester, preparing for presentations in March.

Daryl Baldwin was recognized as one of this year’s MacArthur Fellows. He is the first Miamian to ever receive this award, the first Ohioan since 2004, and one of only 5 Native Americans to win the award since it began in 1981.

Chief Douglas Lankford was an invited speaker for the inauguration of the Greg Crawford as Miami’s President on October 10, 2016. Several Myaamia students marched in the inaugural parade carrying the Myaamia flag.

Six Myaamia applicants attended one of the Bridges Program sessions. Five of the 6 were hosted overnight by current Myaamia students.

Three additional potential Myaamia applicants have also indicated a strong interest in Miami, bring the total so far to 9 interested applicants for 2017-18.

Off-Campus Outreach & Communication

Created Off-Campus Ambassador student employee position to support off-campus students, and hired four students to serve in this role for the 2016-17 year. Ambassadors identified and began work on four projects, including a "take time before you sign campaign," a bulletin board in a bag for Resident Assistants, Landlord communication, and residence hall presentations on moving off campus.

With the Associated Student Government, held the Fall Off-Campus Housing Fair, with 285 students in attendance and 20+ landlords and property managers in attendance.

Orientation and Transition Programs

Recruitment for Student Orientation Undergraduate Leaders (SOULs) is in full swing! Applications opened in early October. The office’s two undergraduate student orientation coordinators (who were SOULs for orientation 2016) are leading the recruitment efforts. A priority application deadline is in early December, and a final deadline is set for early January.

For the first time, all academic divisions are participating in a one-day transfer orientation for incoming spring semester students; this is also the first time that divisions are requiring new transfer students to attend an orientation, rather than a standalone advising/registration meeting. In winter 2015, OTP piloted a one-day comprehensive transfer orientation with the College of Arts and Science, who had previously hosted advising-only sessions for new transfers. The pilot was expanded for summer 2016, and all divisions participated in at least some of our 12 sessions; as a result, transfer attendance at our August orientation decreased by over 40%. For winter 2016/17, OTP is coordinating four Transfer One-Day orientations with a total capacity to serve 100 incoming transfer students.

OTP held our second annual SOUL Homecoming Reunion Brunch on Saturday, September 17th. Approximately 25 former SOULs attended the event, connected with one another, and enjoyed a meal and slideshow of SOUL memories.

OTP is developing a new 2-credit course to train Student Orientation Undergraduate Leaders. Assistant Director Elizabeth Walsh is leading the project, in conjunction with the Department of Educational Leadership. The course will be offered for the first time as an 8-week spring in Spring 2017.

Parent and Family Programs

The Miami Parents Council held their Fall Meeting and welcomed 9 new families to the Council, representing the Class of 2020. The Council is currently focused on assisting the University in the following areas:

Career Development with a focus in connecting students with startups for internships and full time positions and with developing business acumen in students who do not pursue a business degree.

Health & Wellness with a continued focus on decreasing high risk alcohol use and an added focus on assisting with efforts around sexual and interpersonal violence education and prevention.

Fraternity & Sorority Life with a focus on helping end the negative aspects, such as hazing, to increase opportunities for the positive aspects to impact students.

Residence Life

In September ORL planned and implemented Art After Dark, a Late Night Miami program attended by 750 students. Students were able to participate in a variety of arts and crafts while listening to live acoustic music and eating handmade gourmet popcorn.

The Education, Families and Society Living Learning Committee recently sponsored 19 of its residents on a trip to Chicago to visit museums to learn about incorporating experiential learning in the classroom, as well as to meet with MU Urban Teaching cohort alumnis, Rob Cron, to talk about teaching in an urban school district. Prior to the trip, students in the Living Learning Community (LLC) did a fundraiser to bring school supplies for students in Rob’s school.

In early October, 30 students from the Environmental Awareness Program LLC went camping and hiking in Southwest Indiana.

RHA hosted its 2nd annual Town Hall meeting for residents to speak with representatives from HDRBS, attended by 50 students

RHA hosted Safe Trick-or-Treat in the Armstrong Student Center that saw over 300 community children in costumes interacting with Miami University students/student organizations.

Rinella Learning Center

The Rinella Learning Center (RLC) and Student Disability Services are slated to move to the newly renovated space in Shriver during the month of January. The construction phase of the project is almost complete, with furniture being ordered and installed within the next month and a half.

The Rinella Learning Center’s tutoring program and supplemental instruction program are witnessing record numbers of student usage. Tutoring center usage is consistently up 30% from last year and the Supplemental Instruction usage is up 90% from last year. This translates into over 1,800 students being served through one of these programs for a total of 7,190 contacts with students since the first week of September.

The RLC Testing Center is also witnessing record numbers in terms of usage (up roughly 25% from last year). To date, the RLC Testing Center has proctored 1,230 exams.

Student Activities and Cliff Alexander Fraternity and Sorority Life and Leadership

The department had a record number of students apply for ACROPOLIS, the Emerging Greek Leaders Retreat. Over 200 students applied for an available 80 spots. The program had attendance from the majority of the fraternities and sororities at Miami and overall was a huge success.

Staff have worked with the Vice President of Finance and Student Organizations on ASG as well as General Accounting and Accounts Payable on a debt relief plan for student organizations.

140 student organization and fraternity and sorority advisors completed the online CLERY training to be certified as mandatory reporters.

The Re-visioning Committee for Fraternity and Sorority Life has been meeting weekly to make plans for the future of fraternity and sorority life at Miami. The committee has spent the majority of their time talking about hazing and brainstorming ideas on how to create incentives for chapters who don't have hazing as a part of their new member processes.

Beta Theta Pi is re-colonizing on campus this fall with upper class men and in the spring with first year students. Their recruitment efforts have already been a success.

Late Night Miami continues to offer programs to Miami Students on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights every week. Through partnerships with other departments, attendance continues to increase. Craft and art programs are among the most popular with over 700 students showing up to a Friday night Art After Dark Program hosted by Residence Life. Friday night movies attract 500 - 600 students and our annual Mega Fair had a record number of 4,500 students in attendance.

25 new student organizations have started since the beginning of the 2016-17 Academic Year, bringing our total number of organizations to over 600. A few of our new student organizations are: Virtual Reality Club, Vietnamese Student Association, Girls Who Code, Miami Cricket Club and Tian Xia Hui.

A Miami student, member of Alpha Epsilon Phi Sorority, was selected to serve on the International Fraternity of Alpha Epsilon Phi. She is one of 6 students in the country to serve in this important leadership capacity and represent Miami on a international level.

Student Counseling Service

The Student Counseling Service (SCS) collaborated with Associated Student Government (ASG) to help support a student-driven Mental Health Forum on September 15. The keynote speaker was Lt. Governor Mary Taylor who addressed the growing problem of drug abuse in Ohio. President Gregory Crawford and John Ward, PhD, our Associate Director, spoke to the crowd of over 400, about mental health and SCS services. Student speakers encouraged one another to seek mental health support services, and produced their own short documentary of Miami students who spoke about their mental health concerns and ways they sought help.

SCS and its Suicide Prevention Team sponsored Suicide Prevention Week, a week-long series of activities to raise awareness of suicide prevention efforts on Miami's campus. Over the week, close to 700 people participated in various activities including a mindful drawing workshop, a biofeedback workshop, free yoga classes, and a day-long resource fair called Suicide Prevention Day (SPD). At SPD, we were joined by 10 student organizations, campus departments, community agencies that encouraged students to engage in healthy self-care and learn about suicide prevention and treatment.

SCS and its Suicide Prevention Team partnered with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) as well as numerous student organizations, Miami staff/parents, and community members to host the first annual Oxford, Ohio Out of the Darkness Walk on October 11, 2016. 453 registered for the walk and $9,212 was raised to support the cause. The SCS and mental health themed student organizations had booths on-site where students and Oxford community members could learn more about mental health services.

Student Disability Service

Student Disability Services (SDS), in partnership with IT Services, hosted the 3rd Annual Accessible Technology Symposium on Friday, October 21, 2016 in the Shriver Center. This annual event provides opportunities for faculty, staff, and students to learn more about accessible technology for individuals with disabilities, and how technology is used to foster a more inclusive and equitable learning experience at Miami University.

In August of 2017, IT Services will be opening the AccessMU Center which will be adjacent to the SDS/RLC space on the 3rd floor of Shriver and will be home to the IT Accessibility Team as well as Alternative Text Production Services and an adaptive technology lab for students. The AccessMU Center will be a close partner to SDS, and both offices will collaborate on training initiatives for faculty, staff, and students with regard to accessibility and building accessible course materials.

Student Wellness

HAWKS Peer Health Educators attended the Bacchus Initiatives of NASPA Conference, a national conference for peer education, November 17-20, 2016 in Kansas City MO and presented two programs: "It's Time to Step Up, We Did: Building Step Up for Your Campus" and "flourishMIAMI: Building Positive Mental Health".

Over 2,000 first year students attended a UNV 101 "Step Up: Bystander Intervention" training facilitated by HAWKS Peer Health Educators.

Collaborative efforts

The Harry T. Wilks Institute continues its work on shared leadership development language. We met with each department in Student Affairs to get feedback on the proposed language and are now adjusting with the intent of finalizing and gaining concurrence on the language to be used division-wide.

HIV Testing Days, a collaboration between Student Wellness and the Women's Center, are held the 2nd and 4th Fridays of the month. 40+ tests have been performed thus far this semester.

Family weekend programming reached record attendance, with 28 featured events on campus and in Oxford, with a specific focus on offering a wider range of events to attend throughout the weekend, in terms of cost, timing, and audience (such as events for younger siblings). From the farmers market and student performances up town to thousands of families enjoying the Wayne Brady show the Miami Activities and Programming Students planed outstanding events this year. 350 families and students were in attendance at our Friday night dinner and 150 families and students were at our Brunch on Sunday with the Crawfords. Through partnerships with Student Activities, MUSF, the Parent and Family Programs Office and the Performing Arts Series the weekend was a huge success.

Committees

We will begin adding updates to our report from some key committees that may be of interest to the BOT.

Alcohol Coordinating Committee (ACC)

The Off-campus work group of the ACC is serving as the steering committee working with representatives of the International Town Gown Association (ITGA) and the Responsible Retailing Forum (RRForum) on the Alcohol Responsibility Program (ARP). The Oxford-Miami partnership was one of six town-gown teams selected nationally to participate in this program. The program was launched on November 10 with a community meeting. There were about 40 interested stakeholders in attendance -- including local representatives from the following stakeholder groups: permit holders, distributors; producers; the faith community; McCullough Hyde Memorial Hospital; the Chamber of Commerce; the City of Oxford; and Miami University. The ARP program is one of the many ongoing initiatives aimed at reducing high-risk alcohol consumption that have strengthened the Oxford-Miami town-gown relationship.

The Policy and Off-Campus work groups are working to complete the details of the new "Good Neighbor" policy. The Good Neighbor policy is grounded in Miami's Code of Love and Honor, reminding students that they represent Miami University inside and outside of the classroom, and to encourage students to be responsible members of their communities -- on campus, off campus, and beyond. The policy focuses on two behaviors often cited by the Oxford Police Department -- litter and noise violations -- that are not only affronts to community standards, but also typically associated with problematic, high-risk, open house parties. The Good Neighbor policy tracks such violations over the course of a semester, and through letters and personal meetings with representatives from the City of Oxford and Miami engages students in developmental conversations about Miami values and community expectations. Eventually, three such violations over the course of a semester can result in an OESCR charge of "violation of the law," and if found responsible, the resulting sanction will emphasize "restorative justice" -- working with the City of Oxford, the sanctions will involve projects that reconnect the students in a positive and productive way with the Oxford community.

Intervention and treatment group: As part of a growing national collegiate recovery movement, Miami University is partnering with The Haven at College to assess the feasibility of offering a recovery housing option to support Miami students who are struggling with substance use issues and/or in recovery. The Haven at College is an independent organization with expertise in this area, and their goal is to design and develop a program that will address unmet needs within our Miami community while integrating seamlessly into our Miami culture. A team from the Haven at College visited campus and met with a large number of community and university stakeholders during the week of Nov 14-18.

Sexual and Interpersonal Violence Prevention and Response

Bennyce Hamilton, Regional Director of Diversity and Multicultural Services, has been designated as the Deputy Title IX Coordinator for Regional Students. This designation includes responding to reports of sexual misconduct, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking involving regional campus students.

Kathie Wollney, Miami University’s first sexual and interpersonal violence education and outreach (SIVEO) coordinator, began October 31, 2016. She will be responsible for assisting with education and prevention programming for students, faculty and staff on all Miami campuses regarding SIV.

It’s On Us week was conducted for the fall semester of 2016 during the week of 10/24-10/28, this week contained awareness raising events and informational sessions.

Staff Achievements and Accomplishments

Jayne Brownell has been named a 2017 Diamond Honoree by ACPA: College Student Educators International. Jayne is part of this year’s class of 17 national leaders being honored for “outstanding and sustained contributions to higher education and to student affairs.” An awards ceremony will be held at the ACPA national conference in March.

Jane Goettsch, Director of the Women’s Center, co-presented a workshop at the National Women's Studies Association (NWSA) Women's Centers Pre-Conference in Montreal on Nov. 10. Title: "Who Produces Knowledge, and What ‘Counts’ as Knowledge?”

Vicka Bell-Robinson, Associate Director of Residence Life, has had her article, “The Radical Middle: The Limits and Advantages of Teaching Grit in Schools”, published in the most recent edition of The Journal of School and Society.

Hoa Bui, Resident Director, will have her poem, “The Song of a Lonely Bird”, published in the soon-to-be-released 6th edition of Student Services: A Handbook for the Profession.

Three ORL staff members received Regional Awards at the GLACUHO conference, held in November in Cincinnati:

Steven Sajkich, Resident Director, Tappan Hall, New Professional of the Year (State of Ohio)

Vicka Bell-Robinson, Associate Director of Residence Life – Service to the Association Award

Eleven ORL staff members presented or co-presented 13 sessions at the annual GLACUHO (Great Lakes Association of College & University Residence Hall Officers), held in mid-November in Cincinnati.

OTP Director Buffy Stoll Turton served on the planning committee for the national conference of NODA: The Association for Orientation, Transition & Retention in Higher Education. Stoll Turton led the speakers and special initiatives arm of the committee for the conference. Buffy has also been named the Chair of the Research Committee for NODA, providing leadership in the area of research on orientation, transition, and retention for NODA members.

2016 - Summer Highlights (through September 1, 2016)

Armstrong Student Center

In 2015-2016, Armstrong Student Center was the location for 1,524 events, an increase of 12% from the previous year. 1,193 of these (78%) were student organization events. 313 were sponsored by university departments (27% increase).

Miami University participated in the NASPA Consortium Survey of Student Unions and Programming. Results from this survey show that the Armstrong Student Center was a factor in deciding to attend Miami University. Affirmative responses to the same question in 2010 were significantly lower than at benchmarked schools. In 2016, answers to this question are statistically significantly higher than the 2010 responses and compared to the national average.

This summer, Armstrong Student Center hosted 5 wedding receptions. Next summer, however, we are slated to have between 10 and 11 wedding receptions of Miami alumni! This means that we will have a wedding reception every available Saturday night between Commencement and Fall Opening 2017.

Over the summer, Wilks Theater technology was significantly upgraded. The operation system was reprogrammed to allow for more options and control, and the microphones, wireless receivers and soundboard were replaced with a system equal in capacity to those in Millett and Hall Auditorium. Also a data input port was added to the rear of the room providing more flexibility for presentations.

On opening weekend, Armstrong Student Center hosted the 3rd annual Armstrong Palooza event to welcome new students to Miami University. Estimated attendance was around 2,800 with events all around the building, including popular comedian/magician Michael Kent, the Taste of Armstrong food event, Laser Tag, giveaways, and a band in Shade Family Room.

Community Engagement and Service

18 incoming first-year students participated in OCES’s new pre-semester program, Community DIVE (Diverse Immersion and Volunteer Experience). The students spent the first day of the program in Oxford and the second in Over-the-Rhine, learning about the local communities and the organizations that serve them and engaging in service. The program was mentioned by the Mayor of Oxford during Convocation.

OCES completed the sale of its fleet of 7 vehicles.

Harry T. Wilks Leadership Institute

The Scholar Leader LLC Retreat was held August 25-27 at Higher Ground Conference and Retreat Center in West Harrison, Indiana. Seventy-one Miami students participated in this 3-day transformational leadership experience focused on building community and creating the conditions for success in this unique living learning community. Residents also moved into Stoddard and Elliott Halls and began planning for programs that will be held throughout the year.

48 Miami first-year students participated in U-Lead, a pre-semester leadership retreat that helps participants recognize their individual capacity for leadership, build community with Miami peers and mentors and consider continuing leadership development opportunities on campus. This year’s group was the largest ever as we doubled the overall capacity while still maintaining the small group methodology. We also hosted, for the first time, a parent and family member social to provide info about the retreat experience and build community. Approximately 50 family members attended this event which also was hosted by the Parent and Family Programs Office.

Following the completion of the spring departmental review and receipt of the external review report, the Institute spent the summer working on new strategic statements that will guide the strategic planning process. These statements are being shared with the entire Division of Student Affairs in order to create shared leadership language that will create increased opportunities for collaboration and increased leadership development impact.

Multicultural Affairs

Dr. Kelley Kimple joined us on August 18 as the new Director of Multicultural Affairs. Kelley is joining us most recently from Baylor University, where she served for 11 years in various roles. Kelley is looking forward to building relationships with the students, staff and faculty at Miami University. With a few recent retirements and departures, Kelley will be working quickly to fill the empty positions in her new area.

On August 15 the 1809 LGBTQ Alumni group hosted a reception for the Crawfords at the home of Bill Gracie and Daniel Fairbanks. The reception was attended by over 20 members and friends.

This fall we started off the year with our annual MADE@MIAMI program. MADE@Miami is a three-day pre-semester experience for first-year students who are ready to make the most out of Miami. We promote qualities valued by the university community—Mentoring, Achievement, Diversity, and Excellence. MADE@Miami is open to all entering first-year undergraduate students; students of color, LGBTQ+ identified students, international students, and students receiving Miami Access Initiative scholarships are encouraged to attend. We welcomed 185 new students to Miami at this program this year.

As part of our Welcome Week activities we hosted three different mixers/picnics, one for our Black Students & Friends, one for our Asian Students & Friends, and another for our Latino Students & Friends. Welcome Week is 12 days of more than 100 events designed to help students meet new people, connect with campus resources, learn their way around, prepare for their first semester, and have a great time!

Myaamia Tribe Relations

7 current Myaamia students were counselors at the Miami Tribe’s Eeewansaapita summer camps, 2 in Miami, Oklahoma in June and 5 in Fort Wayne, IN in July.

A Myaamia rising senior did a summer field activity for her IES minor that included several trips to engage in research about tribal efforts devoted to food and wellness. Locally, she helped plant myaamia corn in an effort to replenish the traditional corn seed stock. She will organize other Myaamia students to be engaged in harvesting the planted crop with her.

10 new first-year Myaamia students began classes this semester—9 on the Oxford campus and one on the Hamilton Campus. In an attempt to assist them in feeling like they belong at Miami more quickly several initiatives were implemented.

Our June travel schedules meshed well with the Summer Orientation sessions that our incoming students chose so we were able to organize meetings with the students and their families while they were on campus. We met with 8 of the 9 Oxford students.

For the first time we organized a pre-school session for the incoming students and all the Myaamia Center staff met with them for a Sunday lunch on move-in weekend.

We continued the partnering of current students with first-year students for some student-to-student communication during the month of August.

Friday, September 2 will be the second retreat for Myaamia students at the WRA Cabin. This will complete the welcoming special events for first-year students.

This is the largest group of enrolled Myaamia students we have ever had. There are 32 undergraduate students for 2016-2017 and 31 of them are receiving the Heritage Award.

A new graduate student in the SAHE program is the first full-time GA assigned to the Myaamia Center. The added bonus about her personally is that she is a Myaamia woman.

Off-Campus Outreach & Communication

Launched two new newsletters this summer - one to all landlords and property managers and another to all first year commuter students. Both newsletters will be sent out monthly through email.

Met with 35 parents of commuter students in June to talk about resources for commuters and identify ways to support them.

Held an open forum with landlords / property managers in July to discuss office initiatives and house parties.

The office permanently took over the Walkabout Program. During Walkabout, 76 volunteers visited over 1,200 permitted residences in the Mile Square, delivering information about safety, parking and living in a community.

Orientation and Transition Programs

Summer orientation concluded in late June, with a total attendance of 3,468 first-year students and 5,053 guests over 16 sessions. This is an increase of 9 students and 140 guests over 2015. The number of students who brought guests to summer orientation increased by 2%. We believe that most of this increase is due to our recent change in billing of orientation fees, which are now folded into the student matriculation fee.

Between May and August, we facilitated 12 sessions of our new Transfer One-Day Orientation, in collaboration with all five academic colleges. Over the 12 sessions, we oriented a total of 136 domestic transfer students (57% of incoming domestic transfers this fall), and 130 parents/guests. Transfer students appreciated the abbreviated program schedule, small program size, our focus on the transfer transition experience, and the opportunity to get their class schedules and student IDs prior to late August. Transfer one-day programs also helped decrease transfer student attendance at August orientation, which facilitated the success of that program.

Our fall 2016 relocation orientation had the largest-ever number of attendees – 42 students, and 24 guests. Orientation and Transition Programs (OTP) partners with regional campus colleagues, the One Stop, and Off-Campus Outreach and Communication to offer this orientation for relocating students each semester.

August orientation completed our orientation season on August 24 & 25. We welcomed 99 first-year students, and 51 transfer students, along with 107 guests. The program incorporated new elements that allowed us to focus on the transition needs for new transfer students separately from our first-year audience, including a new transfer transition session in collaboration with the Office of Admission, and a transfer student panel for new transfer students and their guests.

The new orientation and Welcome Week mobile app helped new students and families navigate orientation and Welcome Week with schedules, maps, and other helpful program information. We had a total of 9,465 downloads between May-August 2016 – and increase of 4,301 downloads over the same period last year. This is a huge success for our programs; the mobile app allowed us to stop printing the Welcome Week schedule in paper in 2015.

Welcome Week 2016 concludes on Monday, September 5. We are currently collecting attendance, but informal reports are that student engagement and feedback has been very positive.

One new innovative program, called It IS My Place, is a performance-based educational program focused on the important topics such as sexual assault/sexual violence, bystander behavior, alcohol and other drugs, and bias statements. We held the event in Millett Hall, and collaborated with the VP and Dean’s offices in Student Affairs, as well as the Office of Residence Life, the Student Counseling Service, the Office of Student Wellness, and the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Coordinator. Funding was provided by the Student Affairs VP and Dean’s offices, as well as the Miami Family Fund. Over 3,000 students attended (approximately 80% of the first-year class), and student response has been very positive.

Another new program for Welcome Week 2016 is Stop Hunger Now, an on-campus service project in which students packaged meals for communities across the globe that are impacted by hunger and poverty. Approximately 80 students attended, and packaged over 12,500 meals that will be shipped across the world to combat hunger. Students also signed up for the Miami Community Engagement and Service list-serv at the event. This event was supported by funds from the VP of Student Affairs Innovation Fund.

Our staff has been involved in the UNV 101 first-year transition course as instructors as well as assisting with the coordination of Undergraduate Associates (UAs) for the course. Both OTP staff members are teaching two sections of UNV 101, and facilitated UNV 101 training for more than 80 UAs on Saturday, August 27. Elizabeth Walsh, Assistant Director of OTP, is teaching a UNV 101 for transfer students, which has its highest enrollment ever (including when the course was taught as EDL 110), with 35 new transfer students.

Our two new undergraduate orientation student coordinators for 2016-17 started in mid-August. Virginia Agee and Samantha Weiss, both juniors in the College of Arts and Science, were Student Orientation Undergraduate Leaders (SOULs) for summer 2016. As student coordinators, they will lead the recruitment and selection of the 2017 SOUL team, and support the development and facilitation of summer orientation 2017.

Parent and Family Programs

Partnered with Orientation & Transition Programs to welcome 5,053 family members of new first-year students through 16 Family Orientation sessions, as well as approximately 82 family members of new transfer students across 12 transfer orientations.

Worked with the Alumni Association to coordinate 20+ New Student Send Off events for incoming Miami students and families. Events took place as far away as San Francisco and Atlanta and as close as Cincinnati and Columbus.

In collaboration with International Student & Scholar Services, held a luncheon and educational session for approximately 50 parents of incoming international students. The educational session was offered both in Chinese and in English.

Residence Life

Over 3200 students, 82.1% of the first year class, attended the Fire and Personal Safety Fairs over the course of four nights. The event was coordinated by the Office of Residence Life, in collaboration with the Oxford Fire Department and Life Squad, the Office of Environmental Safety and Risk Management, the Miami University Police Department and the HAWKS Peer Health Educators.

Since Moving to an Opt-In Procedure for Living Learning Communities and Theme Housing, 85% of students requested to live in an LLC or Theme community.

94% of students were assigned into their 1st or 2nd Choice Community Requests.

22% of students in LLCs and Theme communities are co-enrolled into a common course experience.

Student Activities and Cliff Alexander Fraternity and Sorority Life and Leadership

The department hosted two informational sessions for orientation about getting involved and about Fraternity and Sorority Life. We had 1,119 total parents attend the Fraternity and Sorority Life sessions and over 900 parents attend the Getting Involved sessions over the month of June.

Late Night Miami will continue into its second year over the next academic year. We're excited to be offering programming every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night for the upcoming year with Late Night Miami.

Fraternity and Sorority Life is developing an online course for all members about the value of involvement in fraternities and sororities at Miami with specific focus on hazing prevention. The course will be required beginning in Spring of 2017 for all members and new members of the fraternity/sorority community.

Student Counseling Service

Final end of the year statistics show that the Student Counseling Service (SCS) provided clinical service to 11.11% of the student body in 2015-2016, a dramatic 22% increase from the previous year. This increase is attributed to (1) the addition of two new staff positions in the past year, and (2) a significant re-design in the intake/triage process which reduced the initial consultation session from 50 to 30 minutes and significantly increased utilization of referrals to group workshops to more efficiently deliver psycho-educational skill training on commonly needed mental health skills such as anxiety and stress management, resiliency, and coping with depression. These changes also resulted in a 25% increase in the number of students seen for the first time, all but eliminated the wait for an initial appointment, and somewhat reduced the wait for on-going individual counseling.

End of year statistics also revealed a 16% increase in participants in outreach programs to a record attendance of more than 27,000, as well as newly developed social media efforts which contributed to a 126% increase in visitors to the SCS website. Efforts aimed at early identification and referral of students struggling with mental health concerns through completion of mental health gatekeeper training have now reached 21% of all MU students, faculty, and staff over the past two years, earning an award for the most student completions in the country. Significantly, these efforts are now reflected in the latest Health Minds Study data showing a 21% increase—from 66% to 80%—in the number of respondents who indicated knowing where to go on campus for professional mental health care, now exceeding the national average by 10 points, and significant decreases in MU students reporting stigma re: receiving mental health services.

Following the sudden announcement of the impending resignation of the only University Psychiatrist in early June, SCS was able to successfully recruit a replacement for the position to begin by the start of classes in August, thereby avoiding a lengthy period in which students in need of psychiatric services would be unserved in the entire Oxford community.

Student Wellness

Miami University has been selected as one of six university/ city communities to pilot an Alcohol Responsibility Program through the International Town Gown Association, developed by Responsible Retailers Forum (RRForum). This program focuses on the responsible service and management of alcohol sales in retail, bar, and tavern establishments. A joint application was submitted by representatives of Miami University and the city of Oxford, Ohio.

The Women's Center stepped up in August to assist with the MADE@Miami program, and Rhonda Jackson has accepted Spectrum's invitation to serve as their co-adviser following Shevonne Nelson's resignation as Coordinator of LGBTQ+ Services. Rhonda is working closely with the LGBTQ student interns on fall programming, much of which is co-sponsored by the Women's Center.

Collaborative efforts

The Office of Community Engagement & Service partnered with Orientation and Transition Programs to develop an Orientation Food Drive. More than one ton of food collected at our 17 orientation sessions (June and August) was donated to the Oxford Community Choice Pantry.

A committee of faculty, staff and community partners, working closely with Interfaith Youth Corps' Campus Partnership Division, completed a strategic plan for "Engaging Across Religious Differences at Miami University." This plan is related to implementation of the Ford Family Initiative for Spirituality, Meaning and Purpose and a collective goal to promote greater engagement with different ways in which people make meaning in their lives whether religious, spiritual or secular.

The Office of Community Engagement & Service partnered with Student Counseling Services to offer the annual Welcome Wags event during Welcome/Welcome Back Week. Students, faculty and staff were invited to stop by OCES to play with therapy dogs and learn about volunteering at local animal shelters and other community organizations. Nearly 200 students, faculty and staff attended.

Staff Achievements and Accomplishments

Kathy Jicinsky (Assistant Director of the Wilks Leadership Institute) and Gwen Fears (Associate Dean of Students) presented an educational session titled “Creating a Culture of Assessment In Student Affairs: An Assessment Certificate Program” at the 2016 Student Affairs Assessment and Research Conference in Columbus, Ohio on June 24.

Dr. Eric Buller, Director of the Wilks Leadership Institute, and Kathy Jicinsky, Assistant Director, completed the requirements to be certified as Gallup Strengths Coaches. The certification provides additional knowledge and resources that, in turn, may increase the potential impact of the StrengthsQuest leadership development initiative on campus.

2016 - Spring Highlights (through June 3)

Armstrong Student Center

Armstrong Student Center hosted 1,553 events during the 2015-2016 Academic Year. This represents and increase of 150 events from last year. 76% of these events were hosted by student organizations. There are 4 wedding reservations scheduled for ASC this summer and 6-8 scheduled for 2016-2017.

Study Room counts indicate that during the spring semester, almost 11,000 reservations were made in the study and small meeting rooms in Armstrong Student Center. Average reservation time was between an hour and half and an hour and 45 minutes. Additionally, over 900 hours of meetings occurred in the small meeting rooms.

The 15 member Armstrong Student Center Board welcomed 5 new members to seats filled through a competitive application process and 3 new student government appointees. The new members represent a broad range of campus involvement, class year and academic divisions.

Community Engagement and Service

April 22nd was Interfaith Day of Service. 25 students and faculty/staff participated in service opportunities at two Oxford agencies and engaged in an interfaith dialogue.

April 23rd was the last Service Saturday of the semester. 30 students participated in the service day at three community agencies in the Oxford area.

19 new students have been selected to be OCES Student Leaders for the 2016-2017 academic year. Student Leader positions include, America Reads/America Counts, Community DIVE/Plunges, Volunteer Recognition, Community Connections, Education and Outreach, Days of Service, Interfaith Day of Service, Service-Learning, Social Action Center, and Vote Everywhere Ambassadors.

Miami Oxford – Office of Community Engagement & Service, Miami Hamilton – Center for Civic Engagement, and Miami Middletown – Office of Community Engagement & Service had a strategic planning retreat to focus on collaboration.

The Office of Community Engagement & Service partnered with Orientation and Transition Services to develop an Orientation Food Drive. All proceeds go to the Oxford Community Choice Pantry. 233 pounds of food have already been donated to OCCP after the first two days of orientation.

Harry T. Wilks Leadership Institute

Annual Summary of Programs:

76 total programs offered during AY 2015-2016

2,047 students/staff in combined attendance at the 76 programs

29 students inducted into Sigma Alpha Pi, the National Society for Leadership and Success and 12 students inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa, the National Leadership Honor Society.

211% increase from last year in the number of applications received for the AY 2016-2017 Scholar Leader Living Learning Community.

8 students completed the Wilks Leadership Certificate Program in its first year of offering. Each is now eligible to continue their leadership journey as Wilks Leadership Fellows.

916 StrengthsQuest Workshop participants – an increase from 781 last year and 502 the year before.

U-Lead is a pre-semester leadership retreat for incoming first-year students that is held in August. Previous years have supported 25 students each. Sign-ups for U-Lead begin in May, prior to orientation, and typically registration is full within about 18 hours and a full waitlist (up to an additional 25 participants) is achieved by the end of the week. For AY 2016-2017, we decided to expand the retreat to 50 students. We opened U-Lead registration on May 2nd and filled the 50 slots in 8 hours. This past year saw 100% return of all participants from first to second semester with an average GPA of 3.36. We also find U-Lead participants to be highly engaged across campus.

Wilks Leadership Certificate Program- In its first year of offering, 55 students applied for the program which provides a list of required developmental activities that are designed to provide a broad introduction leadership through the domains of self, others, knowledge and practice. These activities include: attendance at a StrengthsQuest workshop or activity, attend two lessons in leadership or similar events per semester, attend a leadership lecture each semester, read one leadership book and draft a reflection/review, participate in or lead a service activity, participate in one diversity activity, be a member or leader of a student organization, attend two leadership workshops, conduct one leader interview, complete one career development activity and draft a Leadership Philosophy statement. Each of these required a reflection to be submitted to earn completion. In this first year, we purposefully used a “hands-off” approach by simply providing the requirements and tracking with reminders limited to a brief newsletter every two weeks. Eight students successfully completed all requirements and are now eligible for enrollment as Wilks Leadership Fellows next year. We will evaluate our approach this summer and by using the eight students as advisory council members.

Myaamia Tribe Relations

Chief Lankford and Daryl Baldwin made special presentations to the Board of Trustees about the Miami Tribe and the Myaamia Center.

18 Myaamia students + 4 Tribe and Center staff joined the Board, Chief, Daryl and Dr. Hodge and his Executive Council for breakfast before the public Board meeting.

Four Myaamia students graduated in May 2016. Three people received undergraduate degrees, increasing the total number of Myaamia undergraduate degrees to 59.

One person received a graduate degree, increasing the total number of Myaamia graduate degrees to 6. This was the second Myaamia person to earn two degrees from Miami.

As of June 2016, 109 Myaamia students have enrolled at Miami, 65 have graduated and 23 will return in the fall. The graduation/retention rate over the 25-year period is 79.8%.

Nine new incoming Myaamia students will enter in Fall 2016. This will increase the total of Myaamia students at Miami to 118.

Seven Myaamia students will be counselors at one of the Miami Tribe Eewansaapita Summer Camps, either in Miami, Oklahoma or Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Off-Campus Outreach & Communication

Sent Off Campus Living Survey to all junior students who live off campus in April/May. With a 16% response rate, we will use the data compiled to inform decisions about educational materials, landlord/property manager communication, and prepare a baseline measurement for future programs and data collection.

Finalized content and design on "Student Affairs at Miami University," the Division's 32-page printed pamphlet highlighting each department for an external audience. Printed 150 copies of the pamphlet with digitized version forthcoming.

For the first time, the Office is hosting a session for families of commuter students during summer orientation (day 2 of the program). The session involves a quick tour of the Commuter Center in Armstrong, and a conversation about how to support a student who commutes.

Orientation and Transition Programs

Summer orientation kicked off on Wednesday, June 1, with the first of sixteen summer sessions for the class of 2020. As of June 5, 96% of confirmed domestic students had registered for a summer orientation session; which is 2% up from last year at this time. We expect approximately 9,000 students and family members will attend one of these summer sessions; we will also offer our August orientation session for those who are unable to attend a summer session.

Transfer one-day orientation kicked off on Friday, May 20, with the first of twelve summer sessions for incoming transfer students and their families. This is a new initiative for Orientation and Transition, which was successfully piloted in December/January. All academic colleges are participating in at least three of the twelve sessions.

The new orientation mobile app is helping new students and families navigate orientation with schedules, maps, and other helpful program information; so far, the guide has been downloaded 1,050 times; we expect that to increase significantly as orientation sessions continue.

Summer orientation programs will offer 60 sessions (30 total hours) of education on sexual assault and personal/social responsibility, including alcohol and campus safety. Staff from the Dean of Students office is presenting to first year students and families as well as new transfer students at each orientation program this summer.

We’ve begun planning for Welcome Week, and one new innovative program will focus on the important topics such as sexual assault/sexual violence, bystander behavior, and more. The program is called “It Is My Place,” and is a performance-based program for sexual assault/misconduct education. We have received funding from the Division of Student Affairs (innovation fund), the Dean of Students (special events fund), the Family Fund, and the Creativity and Innovation Steering Committee. We are partnering with the Office of Residence Life, the Student Counseling Service, the Office of Student Wellness, and the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Coordinator.

Parent and Family Programs

For the entire academic year - over $210,000 has been distributed in the form of Miami Family Fund grants to support student organizations and department initiatives, as well as student travel for study abroad and professional conference attendance. Over 1,000 students have been direct recipients of support, thousands impacted indirectly (through support of Late Night Miami). Twenty of these grants have been given to faculty members to support out-of-class interactions with students, with a total of 504 students participating.

Residence Life

145 new RAs have been hired and had their initial staff meetings for the 2016-17 academic year, who are joining the 118 returning RAs in Residence Life.

The Residence Life Video Production committee produced 19 short videos for use in 2016-17 for RA training purposes, as well as RA recruitment purposes.

Community Leadership Teams (residence hall student government organizations) implemented 114 programs in the areas of student advocacy, community building, and living learning communities

RAs implemented 961 programs/initiatives in the areas of the four goals of the Residential Curriculum

The Residence Hall Association successfully implemented the annual RedHawk Hunt, a campus-wide photo scavenger hunt, which involved 11 teams, comprised of a total of 125 students

Sharefest (May 9-15) in the residence halls was very successful. Although final amounts have not yet been tallied, the Sharefest Planning Committee reported that tons of still-useful clothing, school supplies, household goods and food were donated by residence hall students. Residence Life staff were lauded for their management of Sharefest drop-off sites in each residence hall.

Student Activities and Cliff Alexander Fraternity and Sorority Life and Leadership

Spring events were a success for our department. We had over 4,500 students at our annual Spring Fest; the event was full of carnival games, rides and entertainment for students all day. We also hosted a Spring Concert which had over 1,500 in attendance on the last Saturday night of the semester.

The office had over 400 people in attendance at our annual Student Engagement and Leadership Awards in April. We recognized over 40 student organizations and student leaders for outstanding programming, engagement and leadership.

The Hazing prevention committee increased participants in the annual Hazing Prevention Survey. 286 students voluntarily took the survey this spring.

Late Night Miami wrapped up its first year in May with a total of 105 events for the year.

Miami Activities and Programming (MAP) won 2 awards at the SEAL Awards - Best Graphic Design and Most Creative Event

The Fraternity and Sorority Community had a record number of people participating in Greek Step Up Program for spring 2016. This program is a partnership with the Peer Hawks and is a Bystander Behavior program. This program reached 1,381 students this past spring.

Student Counseling Service

Student Counseling Service and other offices and departments from the Suicide Prevention Team planned and produced the second annual Stress Less Week, April 11 - 15. The week included many mental health education and prevention activities throughout the week delivered by a wide variety of offices and departments. The highlight was Stress Less Day at the Armstrong Student Center, a mental health fair, which was attended by over 1,000 students, faculty and staff--the single best attended mental health promotion event ever at Miami.

Preliminary data re: clinical service provision for the 2015-16 academic year suggest that the following approximate percentage changes from the previous year will obtain:

5% increase in total individual students receiving clinical services;

12% increase in number of clinical appointments, including 20% increase in group sessions attended;

88% increase in students receiving clinical service for the first time;

elimination of wait list for an initial triage session;

20% decrease in average wait time post initial consultation for on-going individual counseling during the Spring semester.

These improvements are attributed to the combination of increase in counseling staff by two FTE as well as a shift to a new intake/triage model that includes brief 30-minute initial consultations and heavy referral to an expanded workshop/group lineup to provide psycho-educational interventions to groups of students seeking assistance with common symptoms such as anxiety, depression, concentration difficulties, and emotional dysregulation.

Two staff of the Student Counseling Service, Dr. John Ward, Associate Director, and Dr. Ashley Wilson, Coordinator of Women's Services, delivered an 8-hr training in Mental Health First Aid to the medical training staff of Inter-Collegiate Athletics. This is the latest, and most significant step yet in a budding collaborative relationship between ICA and SCS in implementing the first-ever NCAA mandated interventions in improving early detection and referral of student athletes struggling with mental health concerns.

Student Wellness

During the 2015/16 school year, 4,425 students participated in the Step Up! Bystander Intervention program. This program teaches student the skills to safely and effectively intervene when they witness situations that are dangerous or do not reflect the values of Miami University.

The Office of Student Wellness will continue to provide free HIV testing and sexual health education through a collaboration with BACCHUS and Associated Student Government using "The Big O," the Opportunities for Health and Wellness Gazebo.

The Office of Student Wellness will be expanding programming about sexual and interpersonal violence prevention, including a new staff position to oversee an ongoing, university wide campaign.

Women’s Center

Patron Traffic: 650 visits to the Women's Center April through May

Assessment: Highlights from the Spring 2016 Patron Survey, completed by 58 of 173 students (33.5% response rate) who visited the Center April 19-22, include that:

Respondents typically visit the Women's Center on a weekly basis

84% of respondents report that the staff meets their needs considerably to a great deal

96% of respondents report that the Women's Center provides value to their college experience

These top five words - comfortable, helpful, safe, useful, and welcoming - emerged when respondents were asked to describe the Women's Center in three words. Open, warm, caring, accepting, calm, convenient, and friendly were also popular word choices.

Health/wellness and relationships are the top two areas that respondents would like additional programming on

Student Employment: Hired six new student interns for the 2016-17 school year

Programming: Eight small programs sponsored or co-sponsored, several initiated/facilitated by our student interns, with a total attendance of about 90

Staff Achievements and Accomplishments

Dr. Eric Buller, Director of the Wilks Leadership Institute, after three years of service as the Vice President of the National Collegiate Boxing Association (NCBA), was recently elected as the President of the NCBA. The NCBA is the national governing body for collegiate boxing and is a group member of USA Boxing. This position entails a four-year term. Dr. Buller is the advisor and coach of the Miami University Boxing Club.

This year, graduation marked the end of employment at Armstrong Student Center for the last 5 student staff that had been on our team since opening in January 2014. Their leadership and experience will be greatly missed.

7 student leaders from the Residence Hall Association (RHA) plus advisers will be attending the National Association of College & University Residence Halls national conference in June being held at the University of Delaware

2016 - Spring Highlights (through April 18)

Community Engagement and Service

There are 41 Service-Learning course sections on the Oxford campus for Spring 2016. Total enrollment is 731. Enrollment in Office of Community Engagement & Service (OCES) coordinated courses is 268.

38 reading and math tutors were hired through the America Reads/Counts work study program for the spring semester. These students are serving at 12 local schools and after-school sites.

February 27th was the first Service Saturday of the semester. More than 70 students participated in the service day at three community agencies in the Oxford area.

During March OCES partnered with the Social Work and Family Studies Department and Career Services to present the inaugural Social Work and Nonprofit Expo. Over 25 community partners were present for the Nonprofit Expo.

OCES partnered with the Provost’s Office to nominate a student and a faculty member for the Campus Compact national and state awards. Both were selected as recipients.

Miami University Department of Art Professor Rod Northcutt was awarded the 2016 David Hoch Memorial Award for Excellence in Service. Professor Northcutt is a member of the university's Service-Learning Designation Committee and utilizes Service-Learning pedagogy in his sculpture courses. He's also a co-founder of MAKETANK Inc. which organizes the Oxford Kinetics Festival.

Student Rebekah Bolser was selected as a 2016 Newman Civic Fellow, and was awarded the Charles J. Ping student service award by Ohio Campus Compact. The Newman Civic Fellows Award honors inspiring college student leaders who have demonstrated an investment in finding solutions for challenges facing communities throughout the country. Through service, research, and advocacy, Newman Civic Fellows are making the most of their college experiences to better understand themselves, the root causes of social issues, and effective mechanisms for creating lasting change.

Diversity Affairs

Spectrum Awareness Week took place February 29 - March 5. Events included two days of pronoun awareness raising, free HIV testing, ally education/training, a well-attended panel on masculinity, an annual corn-hole tournament, and a guest performance by award winning poetry duo Sister Outsider.

Diversity Week was sponsored by the Office of Diversity Affairs and the Diversity Affairs Council March 5-12. Events included the Unity Day March to Uptown Oxford which included spoken word performances and a luncheon, a Poetry Slam, Students of Color Abroad narratives coordinated by the Study Abroad office

Harry T. Wilks Leadership Institute

Thirty-nine Miami students attended the 6-day LeaderShape Institute retreat over spring break at Higher Ground Conference and Retreat Center in West Harrison, Indiana. The students were joined by 5 Miami staff members who served as facilitators for the discussions and activities surrounding values, power, privilege, vision, communication, and leadership styles.

100% of students created a bold, challenging vision statement for themselves and a group they care about (i.e. access to education, eradicating world hunger, ending sexual assault and interpersonal violence, etc.).

90% of students feel empowered to make positive change in the world after attending the LeaderShape Institute.

An important lesson learned as a result of participation in the LeaderShape Institute:

“Dream big and take steps to actually achieve your goals.”

“Leadership is often just as much about the process as it is about the end result, and that we should never compromise our values to achieve any goal.”

“We all have underlying stories that influence who we are and what we say.”

“To live uncomfortably and to push out of your comfort zone on a daily basis.”

On April 3, 29 students were inducted into the Miami chapter of Sigma Alpha Pi, the nation's largest leadership honor society. Additionally, three formally inducted members received the National Engaged Leader Award for their ongoing commitment to society values of leadership, success, and service.

The current Scholar Leader Living Learning Community received over 230 applications for undergraduates to join next year's cohort of Scholar Leaders, twice the number we received last year. We selected 77 students to join the community and were able to be more selective with a competitive and diverse applicant pool. ​

On April 15, the Institute hosted its annual High School Leadership Conference. Over 100 high school students and 20 high school faculty from 20 different schools participated in leadership workshops presented by Miami staff, faculty and students (undergraduate and graduate).

Dr. Maura Cullen presented the annual Wilks Leadership Lecture on April 13. Dr. Cullen, known nationally as “The Diversity Speaker” is the author of the book, “35 Dumb Things Well-Intended People Say” and a co-founder of the Social Justice Training Institute.

The Wilks Leadership Institute completed the Departmental Review process this year. The review began with a comprehensive self-study that was drafted by Institute staff in the fall term. In February, a two-person external review team, from the University of Delaware and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, visited campus for two days and met with over 50+ stakeholders and partners. In March, the external review team provided its report which will be used in an upcoming comprehensive strategic planning process for the Institute. This report focused on six key areas: Mission and Purpose, Shared Leadership Language, Programs and Services, Under-represented Populations, Collaboration, and Facilities.

Myaamia Tribe Relations

There are 25 Myaamia students receiving the Heritage Award this semester, with one studying abroad at the Luxembourg campus. Two additional Myaamia students are active with our group, a 2nd year graduate student and a non-traditional Hamilton student who plans to be full time on the Oxford campus in the fall.

The research project continues with documenting interviews of the Myaamia students at Miami looking for impacts that the Miami Nation’s language and cultural revitalization efforts have on student experiences at Miami and their evolving identity. The first years and seniors were interviewed individually and the sophomore and juniors were interviewed in small groups. In addition this year, several graduates at the conference joined a discussion with the researchers about their Miami experiences.

Eight Myaamia high school seniors have been accepted to Miami and confirmed their enrollment for Fall 2016. The Myaamia student group will increase to 31 students, the highest level yet.

January 28-31, 2016 was the annual trip to Oklahoma to participate in the Miami Tribe’s Winter Gathering and Stomp Dance. 49 individuals were part of the weekend trip this year. There were 13 student participants, 8 Myaamia students, 2 RAs, 2 Miami Student reporters and an IES major. The group also included 2 ORL Resident Directors, 10 faculty/staff from the School of Education, Health, and Society and two Vice Presidents.

April 2, 2016 was the 7th biennial Myaamiaki Conference and Stomp Dance and 17 Myaamia graduates returned to campus to attend the event. One session, about a project to create an outdoor tribute to the Miami Tribe on the Oxford Campus, included 3 current Myaamia students who are part of the planning team for this initiative. Five additional sessions involved Myaamia graduates as presenters, 3 who earned Miami undergraduate degrees, one who has 2 Miami degrees and one who did his PhD at Miami.

Off-Campus Outreach & Communication

OCOC created a new student position "Student Associate for Social Media" and hired three students to increase social media capacity for the division.

With ASG, we held a spring "Off-Campus Housing Fair" on February 22 with about 45 property managers representing 21 different agencies / companies and about 325 students in attendance.

Offered section of the Housing Fair for subleases this year for the first time as well.

100% of property managers surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that the event was worth their time and that they would be back for future events.

With the Alcohol Coordinating Committee and the City of Oxford, we started a process in which off-campus students now receive a letter from Miami University and the City of Oxford when they receive noise or litter citations off-campus. The letter informs students that the citations are public record, and reminds them about their responsibilities as community members and about Miami University values.

Orientation and Transition Programs

As of March 2016, we have changed our office name from New Student Programs to Orientation and Transition Programs. The new name aligns more closely with our mission and work and makes our office more recognizable to public audiences seeking out information about Miami’s orientation programs. The transition portion of the name reflects the office's mission to support student transitions through a variety of resources and programs, including Welcome Week, UNV 101 first-year and transfer courses, the UNV 101 undergraduate associate program, and the Student Orientation Undergraduate Leader (SOUL) program.

Registration for summer orientation opened on March 30. Since then (through April 17), 1,834 students, or 75% of currently confirmed domestic students, have registered for one or our 16 first-year sessions, which take place in June.

Registration for our new transfer one-day orientations opened on April 5. So far, 16 students have registered for one of our 12 transfer one-day sessions, which span May through August.

We have completed our selection process and begun training for the 2016-17 Student Undergraduate Orientation Leaders (SOULs). Targeted recruitment efforts led to a 24% increase in applicants this year – our largest applicant pool in the last three years.

OTP staff have been participating in Miami’s Year of Creativity and Innovation. Director Buffy Stoll Turton has served on the university steering committee, and Assistant Director Elizabeth Walsh is a member of the “Introduce” subcommittee, whose work aims to creatively introduce new students, faculty, and staff to Miami. As part of the Introduce subcommittee work, alumna Kimberly Quindlen (’12) will visit campus on April 21-22 with a colleague from Chicago’s Second City Improv School, to facilitate workshops and class visits focused on utilizing improv techniques in student leadership. An additional session will be offered for faculty and staff, focused on how to incorporate improv skills into teaching and student leader trainings.

Parent and Family Programs

The Miami University Parents Council held its Spring Meeting on March 11-12. The Council discussed progress on their three areas of focus and established goals for the 2016-2017 academic year. The Health & Wellness Focus Team will continue to help Miami engage parents in conversations surrounding high-risk alcohol use by students, while also partnering with Miami to address sexual and interpersonal violence in the Miami University Community. The Career Development Focus Team will conduct an audit of career-related communication to parents throughout their student’s time at Miami, while continuing to encourage additional companies to recruit Miami students for internships and full-time jobs. The newly created Greek Life Focus Team will assist Miami with developing ways to engage families in conversations about preventing hazing and other inappropriate conduct within some chapters, as well as the continued excellence of sororities and fraternities on campus.

Year to date, the Miami Family Fund has distributed approximately $150,000 to various student organizations and department initiatives, as well as student travel for study abroad and professional conference attendance. Over 600 students have directly benefited from Family Fund support.

Residence Life

In February-March, 2016, ORL staff:

Offered 525 programs/initiatives/events supporting the four goals of the Residential Curriculum

Conducted 240 meetings with students to talk about their conduct in the residence halls and on campus

The Financial Cents & Entrepreneurship Living Learning Community (LLC) attended a Cincinnati Reds game and met with Reds personnel about business opportunities and internships with the ball club.

22 Dodds Hall residents as part of the Computing Scholars LLC went to Columbus to COSI (Center of Service and Industry) where they had a tour and had discussions with COSI staff.

The Community Leadership Team of Clawson Hall coordinated the Potato Game. Operating under a strict set of “potato” rules, a single potato was hidden in one of the residence hall corridors, and residents of that corridor had to find the potato and hide it in another corridor. Each corridor was also assigned one of the building’s common areas as additional hiding places. The corridor that had the potato for the least amount of time during the week-long event was declared the “winner” of the event. The @Clawsonpotato Twitter handle got created, so residents could “follow” the potato. The culminating event was a dinner – made exclusively of 10 potato-based recipes – which residents of the hall made for other residents. As one Clawson resident stated “This event truly demonstrated the possibilities for community engagement in our residence halls!”

Rinella Learning Center

Since the start of spring semester, the Rinella Learning Center has served over 400 students through individual tutoring for a total of 1,313 tutoring appointments.

The Supplemental Instruction program has served 570 students for a total of almost 1,500 unique visits to supplemental instruction sessions; supplemental instruction targets courses that have a high fail and/or withdrawal rate.

Student Activities and Cliff Alexander Fraternity and Sorority Life and Leadership

Attendance at Late Night Miami events continues to increase. We have had over 5,560 students in attendance at events so far this Spring. Average attendance is 275 per event. The most popular and consistent with attendance are the movies, craft nights and coffee houses. We see smaller attendance numbers at student org sponsored events.

Student Counseling Service

The Student Counseling Service (SCS) received a $3,000 grant from the Eating Recovery Center, LLC, to support bringing The Body Project to Miami next year. The Body Project is an evidence-based, psycho-educational, peer-delivered program designed to assist students in developing healthy body image, self-esteem, and eating patterns. The grant will support training 8 staff to provide training and supervision to up to 12 student peer educators in providing the program to other Miami students.

SCS staff and the Suicide Prevention Team coordinated and collaborated with a wide range of university offices and student organizations to produce Stress Less Week, April 11-15. This week is filled with a variety of activities designed to provide students with information and experiences in developing and maintaining a healthy balance of stress and responsibility as well as how to develop and apply resilience and coping strategies in managing difficult emotions.

Student Wellness

BACCHUS, a student organization focused on health through the Office of Student Wellness, attended the Associated Student Government Green Beer Day Forum. Approximately 650 students engaged in an interactive presentation about social hosting responsibilities and awareness around high-risk drinking.

BACCHUS hosted a pancake breakfast from 6am-12pm on Green Beer Day. Over 300 students, staff and faculty visited the Student Wellness gazebo for breakfast and games. The purpose of this event was to remind students of legal, low-risk behaviors regarding alcohol consumption and to provide students with food and time as a risk reduction strategy. This was advertised as a Late Night Miami event.

Free HIV testing at the Office of Student Wellness was launched in March. This pilot project was co-sponsored with BACCHUS and the Ohio AIDS Resource Center. More dates are being planned for next academic year.

Women’s Center

Patron Traffic: 900 visits to the Women's Center February through March

Eight programs sponsored or co-sponsored with a total attendance of 450. Among these programs were two signature events:

Celebrating Global Sisterhood, featuring student testimonials and the presentation of the Jennie Elder Suel Distinguished Woman of Color Award to two students and one alumna

"Makerspace," a collaboration with University Libraries focusing on the theme of creativity & innovation

Three of the eight programs, organized by the Miami Masculinities Committee, involved outreach to male students and focused on college men's identity development and creating healthy masculinities

Collaborative efforts

Student Wellness and the Cliff Alexander office worked together to present the Greeks Step Up! Bystander Intervention program to 1,436 new Greek members. Greeks Step UP! is a program that teaches the skills to intervene in problem situations safely and effectively. Topics such as hazing, alcohol poisoning, and sexual assault are discussed.

The Myaamiaki conference concluded with a Stomp Dance at the Armstrong Student Center as a Late Night Miami offering, cosponsored by Residence Life and the Center for American and World Cultures. Shawnee tribe members traveled from Oklahoma to perform. Many Myaamia current students and graduates got to participate in an authentic stomp dance for the first time.

During April approximately 400 students participated in Greek Spring Clean, a partnership between OCES and Cliff Alexander Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life.

Kathy Jicinsky (Assistant Director of the Wilks Leadership Institute) and Becky Carlson (Career Development Specialist at Saint Louis University) presented an educational session titled “Maximizing Student Learning and Career Readiness with High Impact Practices” at the 2016 NASPA Annual Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana on March 14.

Kathy Jicinsky, Assistant Director of the Wilks Leadership Institute, completed the 11-part Supervisor Development Series on March 8, 2016. This series is offered through Miami’s Human Resources Staff Development and is a curriculum-based program designed to develop essential skills to be a successful supervisor.

Dr. Eric Buller, Director of the Wilks Leadership Institute, also serves as the Vice President of the National Collegiate Boxing Association (NCBA) as well as the advisor and coach of the Miami University Boxing Club. From April 7 through 9, the club participated in the NCBA Collegiate Boxing National Championships earning three bronze medals and All-American designation status for three Miami boxers. Additionally, Dr. Buller was selected as the NCBA National Coach of the Year.

Jane Goettsch has assumed the co-chair role of the Council on Diversity and Inclusion (CODI), a committee of University Senate.

The Orientation and Transition Programs team attended the regional conference of NODA: The Association for Orientation, Transition & Retention in Higher Education. We sent five total attendees: two professional staff members (Director Buffy Stoll Turton and Assistant Director Elizabeth Walsh), three graduate practicum students (Jaymee Heineke, Tricia Sherrard and MyTresa Taylor), and one of our two undergraduate student coordinators (Jordan Corral). Buffy and Elizabeth served on the conference planning committee, and each attendee also presented at the conference.

Dr. Vicka Bell-Robinson, Associate Director in Residence Life, completed her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership this semester. Her dissertation is entitled: Exploring the Relationship between Self-Efficacy and Dissent among College Student Organizational Leaders: A Mixed-Method Study.

Our Division was well represented as presenters at our two national student affairs conferences:

Jenn Phillips: Late to the Starting Line: Challenges to Fulfilling the RD Role as a Mid-year Hire

2015-16 - Fall and Winter Highlights (through January 29)

Armstrong Student Center

During the first two quarters of FY 2016 (summer/fall), Armstrong Student Center was the host location for 772 events. 632 of these events were organized by student organizations, 129 by university departments and 11 were non-university clients (employers, conference and weddings). This a 10 percent increase compared to the same time frame in FY 2015.

In January, the Ford Family Initiative for Spirituality, Meaning and Purpose, held a day and half strategic planning retreat with campus and community partners to develop learning outcomes and a strategic plan for interfaith and personal development initiatives related to the objectives of the gift. Work will continue on this plan throughout the semester.

Community Engagement and Service

$4,772.84 was collected during Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week in November. Oxford Community Choice Pantry and the Oxford Homeless Coalition are the benefiting agencies.

48 America Reads/Counts tutors worked 3,058 hours for the fall 2015 semester with community partners in College Corner, Hamilton, Middletown and Oxford, Ohio.

There are 50 Service-Learning courses on the Oxford campus for spring 2016. Total enrollment is 752. Enrollment in OCES coordinated courses is 295.

Diversity Affairs

The MLK Celebration was held at the Oxford Community Arts Center for the third time. The theme for this year's event was "Where are our Children? The Unspoken Dreams of African American Children," with keynote speaker Dr. Yvette Harris. Dr. Juanita Tate (recently retired) was honored by the Oxford NAACP for her countless years of contribution.

On January 4th – January 11th 2016, ODA staff members, Shevonne Nelson and Yvania Garcia-Pusateri and SAHE graduate student Bria Howard led the 3rd Annual Office of Diversity Affairs Immersion Trip to San Francisco. Out of 43 applicants, 8 students were selected to participate to visit San Francisco to learn about “Asian Fusion” through the lens of the Asian Diaspora and its impact on the culture and identity of the city. Asian Fusion is defined as art, music, food, theater, film, architecture, photography, community, law, politics, education, health, technology/social media and tourism, etc. Additionally students learned about LGBTQ+ history during their time in the city and discussed the intersections between race/ethnicity and gender identity identity/sexuality. Students also met with 4 alumni to discuss these intersections and how their work relates as well their time at Miami. The alumni include:

Shefali Razadan Duggal ’93 (Political Activist and Fundraiser)

Hanrui “Hannah” Yang ’15 (Associate at First Republic Bank)

Amol Sogal ’03 (Mobile Product Management, EBATES)

Tony Chang ’02 (Software Engineer, Google)

Harry T. Wilks Leadership Institute

The Wilks Leadership Institute hosted the second of four Wilks Leadership Workshops on November 15th. This workshop, Vision and Innovation, introduced students to the process of developing vision statements as part of a strategic planning process, challenged students in five different innovation stations followed by student vision statement presentations and a discussion on a TED Talk about leveraging limitations instead of being constrained by them.

The Miami Alpha Sigma Circle of Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK) held its fall induction ceremony on December 3rd. In the ceremony, 12 junior/senior students were recognized for their outstanding academic achievement and leadership in the five major phases as defined by ODK. Additionally, one staff member was inducted for his outstanding leadership and support of students.

The Institute provided a StrengthQuest Workshop for the newly re-formed HOME office. With the reorganization of several separate offices into the redesigned HOME office, this workshop benefited them by providing a means to getting to know one another better and to understand roles and associated talents and help to build the new team.

The Scholar Leader Community along with Marcy Miller (executive director of Miami University Hillel) collaborated to offer the 2016 Winter Immersion Service Experience (WISE) Trip to St. Louis, Missouri from January 20th-23rd. The WISE trip is an annual collaborative effort concentrated around the ideas of power, privilege, and social justice. This year, 27 undergraduates and 3 staff advisers participated in the trip - ranging from Scholar Leaders, Hillel, and Office of Community Engagement and Service.

Program Highlights of the Fall 2015 term:

1,495 students attended a Wilks Leadership Institute Program

608 students and staff attended a StrengthsQuest Workshop

38 programs were offered by the Wilks Leadership Institute

529 students joined Sigma Alpha Pi, the National Society of Leadership and Success

73 students attended the Perlmutter Leadership Conference

55 students are currently pursuing a co-curricular Leadership Certificate

239 new followers on social media - #leadership

New Student Programs

We’ve just concluded a busy spring orientation season!

Transfer one-day orientations

For students entering in spring term 2016, New Student Programs (NSP) began collaborating with the College of Arts and Science (CAS) to expand the transfer advising days to one-day orientation sessions that introduce transfer students and their families to academic and student life at Miami. Sessions were capped at 12 students each. Informal feedback from students and families was very positive, and plans are proceeding to offer 10-15 similar sessions this summer for transfer students from all academic colleges.

In addition to CAS, collaborative partners included the HOME Office, One Stop for Student Success Services, Student Success Center, Study Abroad, Office of Diversity Affairs, Office of Community Engagement and Service, Off-Campus Outreach & Communication, Office of Parent and Family Programs, and the Dean of Students Office.

Relocation orientation

New students who were relocating from one of Miami’s regional campuses were invited to attend an orientation session designed specifically for relocation students on Tuesday evening, January 19, 2016, which drew nearly 50 attendees. This attendance hit an all-time high, which reinforced NSP’s decision from August 2015 to offer relocation orientation separately from orientations for other new students. Attendees met other new relocation students/families; went on a campus tour; received information on parking, transportation, and campus navigation; learned Oxford campus acronyms, traditions, and vocabulary; and participated in a range of workshops and campus visits.

Relocation orientation numbers:

27 total students attended

22 total family/guests attended

Collaborative partners included the One Stop for Student Success Services, Student Success Center, Off-Campus Outreach & Communication, CAS Advising, and the Dean of Students Office.

January orientation

In collaboration with International Student and Scholar Services, NSP concluded our spring term orientation season with our two-day January orientation, attended by both international and domestic first-year and transfer students.

Off-Campus Outreach & Communication

Hosted second event in the Commuter Center during finals with about 20 participants

Met individually with 8 Oxford property managers to better understand their experiences with Miami students and develop ways to collaborate on creating smoother experiences for students transitioning to off-campus living.

Parent and Family Programs

The Parents Council partnered with the Alumni Association to encourage all Miami alumni in CEO/President/Founder roles of organizations to begin recruiting at Miami for full time and internship positions.

Residence Life

Over 280 new applicants applied for the Resident Assistant position for the 2016-17 academic year. Returner applications close at the end of January. We anticipate over 100 current staff to apply to return to the position. Group and individual interviews take place in early February.

Over 30 active Eco Reps served on individual Community Leadership Teams to promote sustainability in the residence halls and at Miami University. Five Trash Audits were conducted where trash was weighed before recyclable materials were separated. Results were e-mailed to residents of the halls audited.

A new on-line tracking and accountability system was implemented for Resident Assistants to use to communicate with residents after their 1 on 1 meetings and to make notes at the end of the semester. Over 4800 individual e-mail messages were sent to residents from their RA. Over 10,800 notes were submitted to the system. In the 2015 Assessment of Living and Learning survey, 91.9% of respondents (n=3840) responded that they had at least one 1 on 1 meeting with their RA, as compared to 84.9% in 2014 and 83.0% in 2013.

In the Fall 2015, ORL staff:

implemented more than 430 late night and weekend programs to provide students with non-alcoholic activity alternatives. Attendance was over 6000.

offered more than 1,500 programs/initiatives/events that support the four goals of the Residential Curriculum (academic success, cultural competency, interpersonal development, and community development) and Living Learning Community goals.

conducted 678 meetings with students to talk with them about their conduct in the residence halls and on campus.

responded to 262 crisis, emergency and mental health situations.

resolved over 250 roommate conflicts using a variety of tools and strategies including the Roommate Agreement, mediation, one on one meetings, parent conversations, voluntary moves, and, in some cases, administrative reassignment of students.

taught 46 course sections including but not limited to EDL301, UNV101, and EDL290.

provided 342 hours of in-hall training to resident assistants on a variety of topics including cultural competency, crisis management, and community building. The staff also provided 190 hours of in-hall training and development to Community Leadership Team student leaders on topics including programming skills, time management, and diversity.

Rinella Learning Center

The Rinella Learning Center (RLC) served 799 students through tutoring and 710 students through supplemental instruction during fall semester. For both programs the total student visits over the course of the semester was 6,353.

For fall semester, the RLC Testing Center proctored 1,436 exams.

439 students were served through Rinella’s Academic Support Services (Academic Counseling, Coaching, and/or Study Strategies Course) and 257 students attended one or more of Rinella’s Study Strategies Workshops.

Student Activities andCliff Alexander Fraternity and Sorority Life and Leadership

Semester end attendance data from Late Night Miami was compiled and we had a total of 29,404 students at 45 events for the semester. We are excited about our Spring Schedule, which was just released. We have over 50 Late Night Miami programs planned for spring 2016.

Sorority Recruitment numbers have increased this year. We have over 100 more women signed up for recruitment than in the past years.

Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) has returned to campus and received formal recognition in December of 2015. Sigma Chi Fraternity will be returning to campus Spring of 2016.

We have created a new program called Catalyst, a one day leadership development program for student leaders in Greek Life and Miami Activities and Programming (MAP). We have over 100 students attending that program on January 23rd.

The HUB, our database and general system for student organization management, has increased users and total sessions. A total session is the actual times students have accessed the HUB. In 2014 we had 56,287 visits and in 2015 we had 72,091 visits for a 28% increase in visits to the hub.

MAP and Late Night Miami won 2 awards at the National Campus Activities Association Annual Conference: Best Advertising Award and Best Themed Publicity Award.

Student Counseling Service

Solicited and successfully matched with a psychiatric resident from Wright State School of Medicine to provide 8 hrs/wk of supplemental psychiatric service in exchange for training and supervision.

Almost 500 students attended Furry Finals sessions in which therapy dogs are available to help calm students studying for finals.

Over 1,500 new students completed the at Risk mental health gatekeeper training program on-line as part of the UNV101 course, educating themselves about how to recognize when they or a peer may be in need of mental health services and how to refer self or peers for professional assistance.

Mid-year statistics show that in the Student Counseling Service:

The shift from 50 to 30 minute initial consultation (IC) sessions to increase the availability of brief assessment of service requestors, resulted in:

28% increase in students receiving clinical services over same period last year;

12% increase in number of individual counseling or psychiatric appointments;

35% increase in students receiving clinical services for the first time;

58% decrease in number of emergency sessions required during office hours;

Elimination of wait list for initial consultation: all requestors received appointment within 1-3 days of contact;

Reduction in average wait time for on-going individual counseling from 22 days to 13 days.

The intentional shift of resources to significantly increase the variety and number of group workshops to teach commonly needed basic skills in stress and anxiety management, resiliency, concentration and focus, and depression response, resulted in:

37% increase in number of group/workshop sessions offered;

48% increase in number of group/workshop appointments completed.

Women’s Center

Patron traffic for November-December was 888 (the December BOT Good News Report included patron traffic for September-October).

The Women's Center stayed open late (5-9 pm) Monday-Wednesday of finals week; 28 patron visits were recorded during these hours.

The Women's Center, Office of Student Wellness, and GLBTQ Services collaborated to sponsor an observance of World AIDS Day (Dec. 1) with free and confidential HIV testing at the Women's Center (32 students took part) and a panel discussion about HIV/AIDS in the evening (23 students attended).

Staff Achievements and Accomplishments

Rhonda Jackson from the Women’s Center assumed the co-presidency of the 1809 LGBT Alumni Group in May 2015.

Shane Haney and Sharon Kootin-Sanwu, two of Wilks student employees, were selected as recipients of the 2015 Honor Code Honoree Award through the Farmer School of Business. Twelve students were award recipients in 2015. This award recognizes exemplary students who embody the three pillars of the Honor Code: Integrity, Respect, and Responsibility.

Jenny Levering, Director of Student Activities and the Cliff Alexander Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, received the Sue Kraft Fusell Distinguished Service Award for the National Association of Fraternity and Sorority Advisors in December.

Graham Arledge, HAWKS Peer Health Educator, presented "The Flourishing Classroom: Nurturing Positive Mental Health in Our Students and Ourselves", based on the HAWKS #FlourishMiami Initiative, at the National Council of Teachers of English Language Arts (Annual Convention) in Minneapolis, MN. Graham adapted the concepts around college students and positive mental health to the high school classroom for both teachers and students.

NSP staff (Assistant Director Liz Walsh and Director Buffy Stoll Turton) are serving on the conference planning committee for the upcoming regional conference of NODA: The Association for Orientation, Transition & Retention in Higher Education. With support from the MU Family Fund, Liz and Buffy will attend the conference on February 27 in Indianapolis with three graduate practicum students and two undergraduate student coordinators.

NSP Director Buffy Stoll Turton has recently been named to the research committee of NODA: The Association for Orientation, Transition & Retention in Higher Education. This national group supports the research mission of NODA as a professional association.

Nine students and 2 ORL professional staff traveled to the Central Atlantic Association of College and University Residence Halls (CAACURH) conference in Washington DC. Members of the delegation were awarded for Outstanding Spirit (2nd place) and two Top-Ten Conference Sessions.

2015 - Fall Highlights (through November 16)

Community Engagement and Service

The September Service Saturday occurred on September 26. 32 Miami students participated by volunteering during Hike-A-Thon, Medication Take Back Day, and the Hamilton Community OktoberFest at Mt. Zion Church.

48 reading and math tutors were hired through the America Reads/Counts work study program for the fall semester. These students are serving at 13 local schools and after-school sites.

40 students registered for weekly education-focused volunteer placements through the Adopt a School program.

There are 18 Service-Learning courses offered on the Oxford Campus for fall 2015. There are 328 students enrolled in non-fee-assessed courses and 393 students enrolled in fee-assessed courses. Students in fee-assessed courses are serving at 25 local agencies.

36 students attended Interfaith Day of Service on October 23. Students engaged in service at three sites: Family Resource Center, the Interfaith Center and Woodland Country Manor. This event is possible by funding from the Ford Family Initiative for Spirituality, Meaning and Purpose and partnership with the Interfaith Center.

The October Service Saturday occurred on October 24. 101 Miami students participated by planting tulips for Coalition for a Healthy Community – Oxford Area. The event was called Plant the Promise.

The Office of Community Engagement and Service coordinated and facilitated an Urban Plunge in Over the Rhine in Cincinnati, November 6-7. 7 students and 2 staff members attended Urban Plunge. Students volunteered with the Cincinnati Homeless Coalition, Peaslee Community Center, Wesley Chapel Mission Center and Upspring a nonprofit that works with homeless youth.

Diversity Affairs

The Office of Diversity Affairs coordinated the Cultural Connections Dinner on October 4. The theme for this year’s event was "Connections Where We See Boundaries". Students, faculty, and staff participated in table discussions and personal interactions.

The 4th Annual Multicultural Student Leadership Conference took place on November 6-7. The theme was centered around "Finding Your Voice" and the keynote speaker is Tish Norman.

The MIX-IT-UP Luncheon was held on October 27. Discussion centered around diversity issues.

Harry T. Wilks Leadership Institute

Sixty-five Miami students participated in the annual Perlmutter Leadership Conference on October 3, Strengths-based leadership conference during which they attended StrengthsQuest™ sessions, participated in two 45-minute leadership workshops, and engaged in a small group reflection session. As a result of attendance at the conference, 100% of these students can identify ways to develop their top 5 StrengthsQuest signature themes into strengths.

54 Miami students are enrolled in the first offering of the Wilks Leadership Certificate Program. This year-long co-curricular certificate program is designed to provide a broad perspective of leadership theories and opportunities to learn about and practice leadership. It also requires significant self-reflection and ultimately the creation of a personal leadership philosophy. A group of participants are also serving as an Advisory Committee to guide the improvement of the design and implementation with hopes of growing the program in its second year. Any student that completes the certificate becomes eligible to continue their leadership journey as a Leadership Fellow which is an individualized and mentored leadership competencies-based program.

Myaamia Tribe Relations

There are 25 Myaamia students enrolled on the Oxford campus and receiving the Heritage Award.

The Myaamia Center/Miami Tribe Relations hosted an overnight session for the Myaamia students on September 4 at the WRA Cabin. The evening began with dinner and continued with indoor Myaamia games and using the Myaamia language in simply ways during the games. Students who had been counselors at the summer Eewansaapita youth camps were leaders in the small groups. The satisfaction level about this event was very high. All seven 1st year students report that it helped eliminate the intimidation they felt in the two class sessions that occurred before the overnight. Plans are now underway for a similar event at the beginning of 2nd semester.

It is typical for a community pot-luck dinner to be hosted by Daryl & Karen Baldwin at their home at some point during the school year. This year the event occurred on Saturday, November 7. What was not typical was the student participation—22 of the 28 students attended. One person brought her parents who were visiting for the weekend and two others brought weekend guests. It was a delightful evening and encourages us to offer more informal ways for interaction within this group.

There have been 16 inquiries from Myaamia high school students about applying to Miami for 2016-17. It is likely that 13 of them will actually apply. That is the largest group of interested students to date. Eight of these interested students attended a Bridges session. We were able to meet up with all of them at the lunch that concludes the program.

The Myaamia Center is actively engaged in connecting Myaamia students with others in Indian Country for possible summer internships.

Three Myaamia students are team members who are working with Bob Keller, Physical Facilities Planning and Design Manager, on an outdoor educational art project about the Miami Tribe and the relationship with Miami University.

New Student Programs

Recruitment for Student Orientation Undergraduate Leaders (SOULs) is in full swing! Applications opened in early October. The office’s two undergraduate student orientation coordinators (who were SOULs for orientation 2015) are leading a range of recruitment efforts. Facebook page statistics tell us that weekly facebook activity is reaching nearly 2,500 people per week. The application deadline is in late January; recruitment continues through the start of the spring semester.

New Student Programs held the first-ever SOUL Homecoming Reunion Brunch on September 19. Approximately 25 former SOULs attended the event, connected with one another, and enjoyed a meal and slideshow of SOUL memories. The program was the latest in a series of SOUL alumni communications and events begun in spring 2015.

Off-Campus Outreach & Communication

Created Commuter Center Assistant position to support the Commuter Center, and hired two students to serve in this role for the 2015-2016 year.

Presented a divisional professional development session on Digital Leadership for Student Affairs Staff.

Started an Instagram account for the Division of Student Affairs (@MiamiOH_StudentLife).

Received grant from Parent Fund to purchase 1,000 safety timers, to be provided to off-campus students for free as part of the second Oxford Walkabout (November 2015).

Parent and Family Programs

Family Weekend (October 16-18) occurred with overwhelmingly positive feedback from attendees. Many events reported higher than expected attendance. Debuted a mobile guide to the weekend (Guidebook), which received positive reviews, including easier wayfinding during the weekend, an increased understanding of what to expect during the weekend, and better knowledge of events, activities, and restaurants, both on-campus and in the surrounding area.

Parents Council held fall meeting (October 16-17) and welcomed 9 new families to the Council, representing the Class of 2019. The Council reported that 28 new companies are committed to or considering recruiting at Miami as a result of Parents Council members’ efforts. The Council also partnered with the Office of Student Wellness to create the first in a series of videos to engage parents in conversations with students about alcohol use during college.

Residence Life

5,048 1:1 meetings have occurred with students and their RAs since the start of fall semester.

94 events have been sponsored by Community Leadership Teams and the Residence Hall Association since September 1.

525 residence hall students are serving on Community Leadership Teams within the residence halls.

Rinella Learning Center

Through mid-November, the Rinella Learning Center has served 1,439 students through tutoring and/or supplemental instruction for a total of 5,167 unique visits.

Proctored over 1,000 exams since September 1 totaling over 1,230 hours of test proctoring.

The Rinella Learning Center staff will be teaching a new course (EDP 122: Academic Success II) in spring 2016 designed to support students as they reenter the Miami University following academic suspension.

Student Activities and Cliff Alexander Fraternity and Sorority Life and Leadership

Partnered with the Performing Arts Series and had over 6,000 people in attendance at Seth Myers for Family Weekend.

Late Night Miami is seeing an increase in numbers of students showing up to events. Friday night movies are averaging 250-300 people showing up on most weekends. Thursday night coffee houses are averaging 100 people showing up on Thursday evenings and all other programs average 150-200 students. Overall the program has had huge success in its first semester of implementation.

90 Fraternity and Sorority Emerging Leaders attended Acropolis, a three day leadership development retreat for future leaders.

Both lecture series events, Black Lives Matter and Pete Rose, were sold out.

500 Students and Families attended the first annual Go Greek Tailgate during Family Weekend.

Created a new partnership with Global Buddies and the International Student Scholars program for promoting Late Night Miami to international students.

Best Buddies Student Organization won their #1 Chapter in the Country Award.

Just Duet a capella group was selected to perform at Carnegie Hall in the spring.

Student Counseling Service

The new intake/triage procedures in Student Counseling Service contributed to a 63% increase in the number of new clients and a 13% increase in the overall number of individual counseling sessions provided in the first month of the fall semester vs. last year. These procedures have also been instrumental in eliminating a wait time for an initial appointment as all requests for initial appointments have been granted within a working day or two of the request. While a wait list for on-going individual counseling sessions was begun October 16, this was 3-4 weeks later in the semester than any year in the past decade.

Over 400 students took advantage of the very popular "Dog days at Mid-terms" in which pet therapy dogs are made available as a study break for students during mid-term week.

20 faculty and staff completed an 8-hr long training in Mental Health First Aid offered by SCS staff on October 9, making them eligible to become Mental Health Allies on campus.

Student Disability Services

Students with Disabilities Advocacy Council (SDAC) was founded in the fall of 2015, SDAC is open to any student registered with SDS and has been designed with three main goals: 1.) Students will be able to connect the experiences of others in relation to their own, and situate any differences and similarities within their development process; 2.) Students will conceptualize for themselves what it means to be a student with a disability at Miami University; 3.) Students will re-conceptualize for themselves what it means to be a “successful” student.

Additional expectations for the group include:

Providing feedback to the SDS Leadership Team with regards to campus concerns and issues facing students with disabilities

Assisting in identifying topics for programming, and assist with the implantation of programming;

Student Wellness and Education

The HAWKS Peer Health Educators received recognition as an Outstanding Peer Education Group and the Step Up! Bystander Intervention program received the Outstanding Program award from the BACCHUS Initiatives of NASPA at the annual BACCHUS conference. The conference brings together peer education teams at universities across the country for professional development opportunities and to showcase effective programs.

The Step Up! Bystander Intervention program was successfully implemented with over 1,200 students in the UNV 101 course.

Our BACCHUS chapter had their first event with the new wellness gazebo called "The Big O"- Opportunities for Health and Wellness. Launching their premiere on October 29 with Health-O-Ween and Health Jeopardy, 125 students visited the gazebo which created opportunities for education and sexual health resources. Free food and goodies were also provided.

Women’s Center

The Women's Center has received approximately 25 requests from Residence Life Assistants for pre-made bulletin boards for residence halls.

Three new bulletin boards have been created for the hallway outside the Women's Center - one on the women's suffrage movement, one on the cultural and gender implications of Halloween costumes, and one highlighting the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

The Clothesline Project was held at the Hub September 30-October 2. Eighteen new t-shirts were created by survivors and allies, 22 students volunteered to staff the event, almost 2,400 information cards were distributed, and 40 attended the closing ceremony. The Women's Center also assisted the Hamilton Campus Clothesline Project by providing t-shirts for their display.

Approximately 240 students attended six collaborative programs held September 1-November 3:

Two gathering for Middle Eastern Women (co-sponsored with Global Initiatives),

Two free and anonymous HIV testing days at the Women's Center (co-sponsored with Spectrum),

A screening and discussion of "The Mask You Live In". This is a film about masculinity in America (co-sponsored with Student Wellness),

A networking event for women students with alumnae (co-sponsored with Career Services).

A new Masculinities at Miami Facebook page was launched in mid-September.

A weekly Friday workshop series focusing on wellness launched at the Women's Center in November.

There were approximately 830 patron visits to the Women's Center in September-October.

Collaborative Efforts

Office of Community Engagement and Service partnered with the Department of Housing and Residence Life, Oxfam, Family Resource Center of Oxford, the Creative Writing Department, Empty Bowls, and The Diversity Affairs Council to put on Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. Throughout the week 7 large bags of clothes were donated, 766 meals were donated and $4,703.24 was raised for the Homeless Coalition and the Oxford Food Pantry.

Office of Community Engagement and Service hosted a SEAL Workshop titled “Community Engagement and Your Organization” through the Office of Student Activities on October 14.

For the first time, New Student Programs is collaborating with the College of Arts and Science to offer an early transfer orientation. For many years, the College of Arts and Science has hosted several transfer advising sessions for those transfers who are able to travel to campus in December and early January. These sessions have been historically limited to academic advising and registration, and held prior to New Student Program’s comprehensive January orientation program. This year, New Student Programs and the College of Arts and Science are working together to provide a full orientation opportunity to these transfer students and their families at each of the five College of Arts and Science advising dates. The program has been expanded to include student life information, resources from Parent & Family Programs, and a campus tour. New Student Programs is also managing program registration. Students who attend one of the College of Arts and Science advising days will not need to attend January orientation, but will be invited to enroll in a transfer-specific transition course, and to attend the transfer student social at the start of the semester.

Student Counseling Service collaborated with the Psychology Department, Office of Student Wellness, and three mental health-related student organizations to produce a very successful second annual Suicide Prevention Week, October 12 through October 16. Highlights included a presentation on positive psychology and resilience; a one-woman performance of her comedic play on her experience with suicidal depression; and an extremely well-attended (over 600 students) "Relax-a-thon" with 12 stations of activities and information related to mental health and wellness.

The Office of Off-Campus Outreach and Communication proposed and implemented, with Associated Student Government, the Off-Campus Relations Committee, a new committee of all 16 off-campus student senators to address issues of health and safety, town-gown relations, and living in Oxford. They designed and produced "Break Safety" door hangers for senators to distribute to off-campus residences in November.

As part of the Ford Family Initiative for Spirituality, Meaning and Purpose, Miami University hosted a campus visit and keynote with Dr. Eboo Patel, CEO and Founder of Interfaith Youth Core. The events of the day included meetings with students, graduate students and a faculty and staff development session in addition to a keynote and book signing. The keynote was entitled "Engaging Faith, Non-Faith and Philosophical Diversity in the 21st Century." The events of the day were attended by over 400 people.

Staff Achievements and Accomplishments

Dr. Joshua Hersh, University Psychiatrist, was invited to contribute to the blog of the Higher Education Center's website. His blog, entitled "Using Minimum abuse/Maximum Care Treatment Algorithms to Decrease Prescription Drug Abuse on Campus" will appear as the October blog post.

Jane Goettsch, Director of the Women's Center, received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the National Women's Studies Association Women's Centers Pre-Conference on November 12.

Kathy Jicinsky (Assistant Director of the Wilks Leadership Institute) and Shamika Karikari (Doctoral Associate in Career Services) presented an educational session titled Supervision: A Professional Development and Learning-Centered Approach at the 2015 NASPA Region IV-East Conference in Schaumburg, Illinois on November 9.

New Student Programs graduate practicum student, Sarah Dodge, a second-year in the Student Affairs in Higher Education (SAHE) program, received the Norman K. Russell Scholarship at the national conference for NODA: The Association for Orientation, Transition & Retention in Higher Education. The conference was held in Denver, Colorado, in late October. Dodge was one of three recipients of this national prize, given for excellence at the graduate level in the field of Orientation, Transition & Retention.

New Student Programs Director Buffy Stoll Turton gave a webinar in late September to GLACUHO: The Great Lakes Association of College and University Housing Officers. The webinar, titled, First Generation Success Stories: Navigating Tension between Home and School at a Four-Year Institution, focused on Stoll Turton’s dissertation research

Hoa Bui, Assistant Resident Director, Dodds Hall, received the Robert F. Rodgers Graduate Student of the Year Award from the Ohio College Personnel Association

Vicka Bell-Robinson, Associate Director of Residence Life, has been selected as a faculty member for the 2016 Professional Development Institute, annually sponsored by GLACUHO (Great Lakes Association of College and University Housing Officers), to be held in February, 2016.

Jaymee Lewis-Flenaugh, Resident Director, presented 3 programs at the 2015 NASPA IV-East conference, held recently in Schaumburg, IL: “The First 6 months: Personal Foundations toward Self-Care in Job One”, “We are the NOW of NASPA: Becoming Involved as a Young Professional or Graduate Student”, and “The Struggle is Real: Navigating Racial Battle Fatigue as an #SAGrad or New Professional of Color”.

Several residence life staff members presented at the GLACUHO conference in Flint, MI:

Colleen Bunn, Assistant Director: “Personal Connections in a Residential Curriculum: The Use of 1:1 Conversations to Further Learning”

Colleen Bunn, Assistant Director of Residence Life, presented a poster session at the National Women’s Studies Association Conference, held recently in Milwaukee, WI, entitled “Running Against the Media: Anger and the Feminist Killjoy”